Everton vs Crystal Palace: Moyes Returns with Stakes High

The Premier League curtain lifts at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday with a fixture that feels far bigger than “Game 1 of 38”. Everton against Crystal Palace, David Moyes against Pierre Sage, two clubs trying to prove that last season’s story is not this season’s fate.

Kick-off is set for 10:00 a.m. local time on August 22, 2026, with a packed house on Merseyside ready to judge Moyes’ second coming from the very first whistle.

Moyes back in blue, with a point to prove

This is not a gentle reintroduction. Moyes walks back into Everton with expectation already simmering. The Toffees open at home, against a side that finished above them and arrives with its own new project. There is no hiding place.

He goes with Jordan Pickford in goal and a back four of Jarrad Branthwaite, James Tarkowski, Vitaliy Mykolenko and Jake O'Brien. It’s a defence built on size and aggression, with Branthwaite and Tarkowski expected to set the tone physically in front of a crowd that still responds to old-school defending.

In midfield, Harrison Armstrong, Merlin Roehl and Hayden Hackney are tasked with knitting the team together, while Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will float around striker Thierno Barry, looking for gaps and quick combinations. It’s a side that hints at more technical control than some Everton teams of recent years, but it will still be judged on intensity.

Moyes does not have a full deck. James Garner, Tim Iroegbunam and Christian Noergaard are all out injured, trimming his midfield options and forcing an early test of the squad’s depth. No suspensions help, but the margin for error is already thin.

Off the pitch, the club continues to work the market. Talks remain open over a possible move for Manchester City winger Jack Grealish, with chief executive Angus Kinnear confirming contact. It is the kind of deal that would jolt Everton’s attacking ceiling, yet for now it hangs in the air — tempting, unresolved, and irrelevant the moment the ball starts rolling.

Sage steps into the spotlight

On the opposite bench, Pierre Sage walks into his first Premier League game with Crystal Palace, and he does so with conviction about what he wants this team to be.

He has already made his presence felt. Palace have flatly rejected an approach from Manchester City for Adam Wharton, with Sage crystal clear that the England international is going nowhere this summer. That stance tells you everything about how central Wharton is to his plans.

The club are also close to landing Chelsea centre-back Axel Disasi on a season-long loan, a move designed to tighten up a back line that will need to be compact and disciplined from day one.

For now, Walter Benitez starts in goal, shielded by Jaydee Canvot, Chadi Riad, Chris Richards and Tyrick Mitchell. Across midfield and the wide channels, Ismaila Sarr, Dwight McNeil, Daichi Kamada, Wharton and Oscar Mingueza offer a blend of pace, craft and work-rate, with Joergen Strand Larsen leading the line.

Dean Henderson is the only notable absentee through injury, and Palace travel without suspensions. Sage, unlike Moyes, has most of his tools available.

Mixed pre-season, real questions

Both teams arrive with pre-season records that raise as many questions as they answer.

Everton went 2-2-1 over five games. The high point was a 3-1 win over Newcastle, a reminder that they can hurt strong opposition when it clicks. A 2-1 victory away to Hamburger SV added some credibility, but defeats to VfB Stuttgart (3-1) and Stoke City (1-0) exposed defensive lapses, with six goals conceded across those two losses. A 1-1 draw with Lille on August 15 closed out a programme that hinted at potential without ever fully convincing.

Palace’s summer followed a similar jagged line. They finished 2-1-2, with a 3-0 defeat to Freiburg on August 15 leaving a sour taste right before the serious stuff begins. Wins over Fulham (2-1) and Al-Ula FC (3-1) showed they can carry a threat, but a 3-0 loss to Lens and a goalless draw with Famalicao underlined that Sage’s structure is still bedding in. Six goals scored, seven conceded — a team in transition, and it shows.

So neither manager truly knows what he has yet. That discovery starts here.

A recent rivalry tilting Everton’s way

The history between these two in recent years leans blue.

Their last meeting, at Selhurst Park on May 10, 2026, ended in a 2-2 draw, a reminder of how tight this fixture can be. But across the last five Premier League clashes, Everton have three wins, Palace have none, and two games have finished level. The Toffees have scored nine times in that run to Palace’s seven.

Hill Dickinson Stadium, in particular, has not been kind to the visitors. Everton have won both of the last two league meetings there by the same 2-1 scoreline, in September 2024 and October 2025. Palace know the journey, and they know the feeling of leaving empty-handed.

Table, tension and television

On paper, there is barely anything between them. Palace sit eighth in the Premier League table, Everton ninth, as the new campaign kicks off. It is an early-season snapshot that flatters no one and flatters everyone at once — but it does frame the stakes. Win here, and you’re looking up. Lose, and the questions start immediately.

For viewers in the United States, the game is available live on UNIVERSO and USA Network, with streaming options on Fubo, DirecTV Stream and Sling TV.

For those watching from abroad or facing geo-restrictions, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can unlock access to your usual services. By connecting through a server in a country where the match is being shown, fans can log in to their regular broadcaster and watch as if they were at home — a digital workaround for a global league.

The stage is set: Moyes back where he made his name, Sage stepping into England’s top flight for the first time, two ambitious clubs separated by a single league place and a thin line of belief.

Which project lands its first punch?