Everton vs Crystal Palace: Moyes Returns for Season Opener
David Moyes walks back into Everton with the stakes already clear. A new stadium, a new season, and a home opener that feels heavier than a routine August fixture. Crystal Palace arrive at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, August 22, with their own fresh start and a head coach desperate to make an early statement.
Kick-off is set for 10:00 a.m. local time, and for two clubs hovering side by side in the early Premier League standings — Palace eighth, Everton ninth — this is about more than just blowing off the cobwebs.
Where to watch in the United States
For viewers in the U.S., the game is available across multiple platforms:
- UNIVERSO
- USA Network
- Fubo
- DirecTV Stream
- Sling TV
Each service will carry live coverage of Moyes’ first competitive match back in charge and Pierre Sage’s first Premier League outing.
Moyes’ second act and Everton’s reset
Moyes opens his tenure with a fixture that suits the occasion: a winnable home match, but against a Palace side with enough bite to expose any early frailties. Everton want a clean break from recent turbulence, and a strong performance in front of their own fans would help draw that line.
The transfer noise around the club has been impossible to ignore. Everton remain in talks over a potential move for Jack Grealish, with chief executive Angus Kinnear confirming contact with Manchester City. Whether that deal gets done before the window shuts is uncertain, but the squad that starts this weekend is settled enough to carry Moyes’ ideas into competitive action.
Pre-season offered a mixed picture. Everton went 2-2-1 across five friendlies, their best moment a 3-1 win over Newcastle. A 2-1 victory away to Hamburger SV suggested resilience on the road, but defeats to VfB Stuttgart (3-1) and Stoke City (1-0) exposed defensive lapses, six goals conceded across those two games alone. A 1-1 draw with Lille on August 15 rounded off a summer that answered few questions and posed a couple more.
Sage’s Palace step into the spotlight
On the opposite bench, Pierre Sage steps into the Premier League glare for the first time. The Frenchman inherits a Palace squad with genuine talent in key positions and has wasted no time reshaping it.
The club have drawn a firm line over Adam Wharton. Manchester City came calling, but Palace rejected their approach and Sage has been unequivocal: the England international is not for sale this summer. At the back, Palace are closing in on a season-long loan for Chelsea centre-back Axel Disasi, a move designed to stiffen a defence that will have to be organised and compact from the opening whistle.
Their pre-season record mirrors Everton’s inconsistency. Palace finished 2-1-2 across five games. A 3-0 defeat to Freiburg on August 15 was a jolt, especially after a positive 2-1 win over Fulham and a 3-1 victory against Al-Ula FC. A 3-0 loss to Lens and a goalless draw with Famalicao underlined the stop-start nature of their preparations: six goals scored, seven conceded, and no clear verdict on where they truly stand.
Projected lineups: familiar names, new combinations
Moyes is expected to stick with a clear structure. Jordan Pickford starts in goal, shielded by a back four of Jarrad Branthwaite, James Tarkowski, Vitaliy Mykolenko and Jake O'Brien. In midfield, Harrison Armstrong, Merlin Roehl and Hayden Hackney are set to provide the engine room, while Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall operate around central striker Thierno Barry.
Everton do have absentees. James Garner, Tim Iroegbunam and Christian Noergaard are all sidelined through injury, though there are no suspensions to navigate.
Sage’s Palace side is expected to line up with Walter Benitez in goal. In front of him, Jaydee Canvot, Chadi Riad, Chris Richards and Tyrick Mitchell form the defensive line. The midfield and wide areas should feature Ismaila Sarr, Dwight McNeil, Daichi Kamada, Adam Wharton and Oscar Mingueza, with Joergen Strand Larsen leading the attack. Dean Henderson is the only injury concern listed for the visitors, who also arrive without suspensions.
Recent form and the weight of history
These sides know each other well, and recent history leans Everton’s way. Their last meeting, at Selhurst Park on May 10, 2026, ended 2-2, a reminder that Palace can hurt them. Yet across the last five Premier League clashes, Everton have three wins, Palace none, with two draws in between.
Everton have scored nine goals in those five games to Palace’s seven, and Hill Dickinson Stadium has not been kind to the visitors. The Toffees won 2-1 there in October 2025 and 2-1 again in September 2024. Two games, two identical scorelines, and a pattern Palace will be desperate to break.
How to watch with a VPN
For fans travelling abroad or trying to access their usual streaming services from a different country, geo-restrictions can block coverage. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) offers a workaround by allowing users to connect via an encrypted link and appear online as if they were in another location.
By switching to a server in a country where Everton v Crystal Palace is being shown, supporters can unlock their preferred broadcast and watch live. After installing a reputable VPN service, select the appropriate server location, clear your browser cache if needed, then head to your chosen broadcaster’s site or app and start streaming.
The bigger questions start now
Pre-season is over. The speculation around transfers will continue to swirl, but from the first whistle at Hill Dickinson, it is the football that will start to define both projects.
Can Moyes turn Everton’s flickers of promise into something more stable, more ruthless, in front of a demanding home crowd? And can Sage, on his Premier League debut, stamp his identity quickly enough to disrupt a ground where Palace have repeatedly fallen just short?
