Preview: Everton vs Crystal Palace - prediction, team news, lineups

Everton and Crystal Palace square off at the Hill Dickinson Stadium for their opening fixture of the 2026-27 Premier League season on Saturday afternoon.

The Toffees celebrated a 2-1 comeback victory at home against the Eagles in October last year, with Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish scoring two late goals to secure maximum points.

Match preview

Everton manager David Moyes has successfully steadied the ship on the blue side of Merseyside since his return in 2025, dragging the Toffees away from the persistent threat of relegation in the Premier League.

However, despite emerging as genuine contenders for a European spot last season, a bleak seven-game winless streak to close the campaign (D3 L4) saw Everton drop down the table to mirror their previous year's 13th-place finish.

Everton have never endured an eight-game winless league run under Moyes, while the Scotsman himself last went longer without a Premier League victory in April 2017 during his time in charge of Sunderland (10 matches).

Three wins, two draw and two defeats were posted by Everton during pre-season, while their squad has been bolstered with five permanent signings so far this summer. Further incomings are expected as the Toffees bid to secure a top-half finish for the first time in six years and end the club’s nine-year drought without European football.

Everton head into the new season having lost their opening fixture in each of the last four top-flight campaigns, their joint-longest losing run in their first game of a league campaign. They have failed to score in all four of those defeats and no top-tier club has ever been beaten in five consecutive opening-day matches without scoring.

On a more positive note, the Toffees boast an 11-game unbeaten run against Saturday’s opponents Crystal Palace across all competitions, accumulating 21 points from a possible 27 available in the Premier League since May 2022.

Crystal Palace experienced a turbulent 2025-26 campaign that ultimately ended on a historic high when they lifted the Conference League trophy. A 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano in May’s showpiece provided a fairytale farewell for Oliver Glasner in his final match at the helm.

Pierre Sage has since taken the reins at Selhurst Park and has overseen a mixed pre-season in terms of results (W3 D1 L3). The Frenchman, who steered Lens to the Coupe de France and a second-place finish in Ligue 1 last season, is tasked with improving on Palace’s 16th-place league finish as well as making a deep impression in the Europa League.

History will be heavily stacked against Sage on Saturday, as opening-day success has traditionally eluded new arrivals at Selhurst Park. Out of the 16 previous managers to lead Palace in a PL game, 14 have failed to win their debut fixture (D4 L10). Only Alan Pardew, with a 2-1 victory over Spurs in 2015, and Glasner, via a 3-0 triumph against Burnley in 2024, managed to buck that trend.

Palace’s recent record against Everton also leaves a lot to be desired, as they have won just one of their last 23 top-tier meetings with the Toffees (D10 L12) – a 3-1 home win in December 2021. Their last away victory against the Merseysiders was back in 2014-15 under Neil Warnock (3-2 at Goodison Park).

However, the Eagles trail only Spurs (63%) and Nottingham Forest (55%) for the highest percentage of top-flight points collected away from home last term (53% via 24 out of 45), while they also boast five clean sheets from their last eight opening-day fixtures.

Everton pre-season form:

Crystal Palace pre-season form:

Team News

Everton summer signing Christian Norgaard is still recovering from an unspecified issue and is unable to make his debut this weekend, while fellow midfielders James Garner (groin) and Tim Iroegbunam (knock) are also sidelined.

David Moyes could therefore be required to play Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in a deeper midfield role alongside £16m signing Hayden Hackney, who was named the 2025-26 Championship Player of the Season during his time at Middlesbrough.

Brennan Johnson, who was signed from Palace as part of a swap deal involving Dwight McNeil, is also in contention to start and could feature in a frontline including Ndiaye and Thierno Barry.

In defence, Jarrad Branthwaite came through pre-season unscathed and should be fit to start at centre-back alongside James Tarkowski, protecting long-serving goalkeeper Jordan Pickford between the sticks.

As for Crystal Palace, goalkeeper Dean Henderson has emerged as a doubt after he twisted his ankle in the friendly defeat to Freiburg last weekend. Backup shot-stopper Walter Benitez is waiting in the wings if needed.

Having only played 18 minutes in pre-season since representing Colombia at the 2026 World Cup, key wing-back Daniel Munoz may begin Saturday’s game as a substitute, with new signing Oscar Mingueza starting on the right.

Ismaila Sarr has recently been linked with a move away from the club, but last season’s top scorer with 21 goals is still expected to start in attack, potentially alongside either McNeil or Yeremy Pino and Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Everton possible starting lineup:

Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Hackney, Dewsbury-Hall; Johnson, Armstrong, Ndiaye; Barry

Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:

Henderson; Canvot, Richards, Riad; Mingueza, Kamada, Wharton, Mitchell; Pino, Sarr; Strand Larsen

We say: Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace

Everton's excellent head-to-head record against Crystal Palace should give them plenty of confidence as they look to exploit a transitioning visiting side on the opening weekend.

With the Eagles still needing time to fully master Sage's new tactical ideas, the Toffees are well-placed to capitalise on home soil and edge out a narrow victory.

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