Everton Triumphs Over Crystal Palace in Season Opener

Andy Burnham took his place among the plush seats at Hill Dickinson Stadium wondering, like every Everton supporter, how David Moyes’s side would cope without the reinforcements everyone has been arguing about all summer. No new right-back. No new centre-forward. No safety net.

They walked away with three points anyway.

Everton punished a profligate Crystal Palace to launch their season with a win that grew more emphatic as the night wore on. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, carrying the weight of last season’s bitter ending on his shoulders, ripped it away with a stunning first-half strike, before Thierno Barry – the forward whose place is under direct threat from any late-window arrival – buried a second-half header to settle it.

For Pierre Sage, this was a harsh, unforgiving Premier League debut. Palace’s new manager watched his team carve Everton open, miss chance after chance, then lose defender Chadi Riad to what looked a serious late injury. It was a brutal education.

Palace waste chances, Everton feel the escape

Sage did not rip anything up for his first league game in England. Same broad shape, same emphasis on structured build-up. The familiar problem from the Oliver Glasner era remained: plenty of promise, not enough punch.

Palace should have been out of sight before Everton landed a glove. They created three clear openings before Dewsbury-Hall struck and squandered every one. Twice Jordan Pickford’s left-hand post came to Everton’s rescue, but bad luck was only part of the story. Wastefulness did the real damage.

Pre-match noise had centred on Ismaïla Sarr. Palace moved quickly to deny reports he had refused to play to force a move to Galatasaray, with Sage insisting the Senegal forward was missing through injury. If there was disruption, it did not show early on.

Within three minutes, Everton’s new captain James Tarkowski misjudged a header and Palace pounced. Eddie Nketiah burst clear down the left and slid the ball across for Jean-Philippe Mateta, who had peeled to the near post. The finish, though, was wild – Mateta volleyed over from close range and Everton breathed.

The warning went unheeded. Adam Wharton, whom Sage has firmly ring-fenced amid interest from Manchester City, then produced the game’s first moment of real class. Spotting Nketiah’s run inside a makeshift right-back, Merlin Röhl, Wharton dropped a perfectly weighted pass into the box. Nketiah had time, space, and the angle, but Pickford read it superbly, tipping the shot onto his left post.

Palace kept coming. Wharton combined with former Everton winger Dwight McNeil and Nketiah to free Mateta again in front of goal. At full stretch, the France international finally beat Pickford – only to see the same post intervene for a second time. Everton’s reprieve felt huge. Five minutes later, it looked decisive.

Dewsbury-Hall ignites Everton

Slowly, Moyes’s side grew into the contest. The summer arrivals – Hayden Hackney, Tyrique George and Röhl – all offered glimpses of why Everton had pushed to get them in. Hackney knitted play, George probed relentlessly from the left, Röhl showed composure in an unfamiliar role.

Everton’s first real opening came when Dewsbury-Hall threaded Röhl into space. The young German picked out Iliman Ndiaye, whose low effort forced Dean Henderson into a sharp save. After that, the home side’s creativity stalled for a spell. The crowd grew restless. George kept driving at his man, but clear chances were scarce.

Then Dewsbury-Hall took control.

The midfielder suddenly sprang to life, weaving through challenges on a driving run that ended with a shot striking Chris Richards and sparking appeals for handball. Referee waved play on and Palace broke through Daniel Muñoz – a right-back Everton have tracked all summer as they search, increasingly desperately, for Seamus Coleman’s long-term successor.

Muñoz, though, was stripped of the ball by Harrison Armstrong, whose work rate had been relentless. With Palace exposed, Armstrong fed Dewsbury-Hall. One touch to set, one to finish. The 27-year-old whipped a fierce, angled drive across Henderson and into the far corner. Hill Dickinson erupted. Everton’s season had its first true jolt of electricity.

Palace had a chance to respond before the break. Muñoz ghosted in front of George to meet a superb cross from Daichi Kamada, only to glance his header wide of the far post. Again, the move was slick. Again, the finish was missing.

Everton did not look inclined to offer many more second chances.