- 1 Everton vs Crystal Palace: the numbers behind a season opener tilted by silverware
- 2 Everton: a counter-attacking side that has to learn how to boss things at home
- 3 Crystal Palace: a European champion changing its tune
- 4 Premier League prediction Everton vs Crystal Palace
- 5 First, a word on our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the visuals…
Everton vs Crystal Palace: the numbers behind a season opener tilted by silverware 
Crystal Palace arrive at the Hill Dickinson Stadium with a haul the club had never put together before 2025: the FA Cup, the Community Shield, then the Conference League, won in May in Leipzig against Rayo Vallecano. Everton, over the same spell, finished another season without European football.
That gap in trajectory sets the tone. The Toffees kick off their 2026-27 campaign in a stadium they have occupied for only one season, against a side that has just written the richest chapter in its history.
The backdrop has changed on the London side, though. Oliver Glasner, the man behind those three trophies, has moved on to Nottingham Forest, and Pierre Sage takes over after leading Lens to a title race with Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 last season.
David Moyes, meanwhile, is starting his first full campaign with the target crystal clear: get Everton back into Europe and back on track in Liverpool. Last season, the club let qualification slip in the closing weeks, and the recruitment drive was built around fixing that failure.
The Premier League table is blank: zero points, zero matches played for both sides. No league form to read into yet, which leaves this down to available personnel and how these teams want to play.
Kick-off is Saturday 22 August at 15:00 UK time, 16:00 in France. The game is at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, where Everton want to build a fortress after a season in which their best results came away from home.
Everton: a counter-attacking side that has to learn how to boss things at home 
Everton’s end to 2025-26 was flat as a pancake: L, L, D, D, L in their final five league games, capped by a 1-3 defeat to Sunderland. Across that run, only one match saw them avoid shipping at least two goals.
The home numbers tell you plenty. Everton drew 3-3 with Manchester City and lost 1-2 to Liverpool on their own pitch, two benchmark games that showed a side capable of going toe to toe but not of locking the door.
Moyes’ blueprint explains part of it. Everton are built on a compact block and quick transitions, a system that works best when the other side takes the initiative, which rarely happens at home against mid-table opposition.
The attack is built around a clear core. Beto scored 9 goals from 43 shots last season, hitting the target 17 times, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added 8 goals and created 37 chances from midfield.
Defensively, there is work to do. With no right-back signing arriving this summer, German midfielder Merlin Roehl has filled in out wide in pre-season, with Jake O’Brien the other option.
Two absences hit the middle of the pitch: James Garner is out to start the season and Christian Norgaard is also injured, while Tim Iroegbunam remains a doubt. Out wide, Brennan Johnson, who arrived this summer in the swap deal involving Dwight McNeil, should start because there are few alternatives.
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Crystal Palace: a European champion changing its tune 
Palace ended last season on a run of D, L, L, D, D, with a 2-2 draw at Brentford and a 3-0 loss at Bournemouth. The Eagles were clearly more focused on their European run than on Premier League points.
The attack revolves around one man. Jean-Philippe Mateta scored 12 goals last season from 63 shots, with 32 of them on target, a volume that makes him the main reference point in the London side’s frontline.
Around him, Ismaila Sarr and Daniel Munoz provide the threat. The Colombian wing-back remains one of the few full-backs in the league who can influence the final third as much as his own box.
The coaching change shifts the picture. Glasner had turned Palace into the division’s best counter-attacking side, while Pierre Sage has always preferred a more proactive approach with the ball, both at Lyon and then at Lens.
That switch will take time, especially away from home and on the opening day. Sage should keep things fairly cautious for this trip, which brings Palace closer to the type of game Moyes knows best.
The injury list makes the transition trickier: Adam Wharton starts the season out with an ankle problem, Cheick Doucoure is a doubt, and Dwight McNeil, who arrived from Liverpool this summer in the deal involving Brennan Johnson, is also questionable to face his former club.
Probable Everton XI: Pickford; Roehl, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Armstrong, Hackney; Johnson, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndiaye; Barry
Probable Crystal Palace XI: Henderson; Richards, Riad, Canvot; Munoz, Hughes, Kamada, Mitchell; Sarr, Pino; Mateta
Premier League prediction Everton vs Crystal Palace
Our prediction: Everton to win
The first reason is structural: Palace are changing their football at the exact point the season begins, without organiser Adam Wharton and with Doucoure doubtful in midfield. A side that has to relearn how to keep the ball is usually more exposed away from home than one that sits deep and breaks.
The second is attacking threat. Everton line up with four players who scored last season, including Beto with his 9 goals and Dewsbury-Hall with his 8, against a reshaped back three where Riad and Canvot are still building an understanding in Premier League conditions.
The market has Everton out front in the three-way betting too, around 2.10. At that price, with home advantage and an opponent in the middle of a tactical reset, the Toffees offer the best blend of value and match read.
We are backing Everton to win.
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