Thierno Barry's Goal Secures Everton Victory Over Crystal Palace
Everton 2 Crystal Palace 0
Thierno Barry needed until December to get off the mark last season. This time, he has spared David Moyes that particular headache before August is out.
The 23-year-old Frenchman, part of a strikeforce that mustered just 18 league goals in 2025-26 alongside Beto, nodded in Everton’s second in a controlled 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. For a manager still bristling at a lack of attacking reinforcements, that early breakthrough felt like oxygen.
The afternoon had already carried a sense of occasion. Season ticket-holder Andy Burnham took his seat at Goodison Park for the first time as Prime Minister, and Everton responded with the kind of morale-boosting victory that had deserted them during last term’s seven-game winless run-in which wrecked their push for Europe.
Dewsbury-Hall flips the script
Moyes did not rip anything up. His starting XI had a familiar look, save for new signing Hayden Hackney anchoring midfield and Merlin Rohl again asked to plug the problem position at right-back.
For 38 minutes, the story felt grimly familiar too.
Palace carved out the better chances. Jean-Philippe Mateta somehow stabbed wide from close range when he usually punishes that kind of opportunity, then rattled a post. Eddie Nketiah went even closer, his effort tipped acrobatically onto the same upright by Jordan Pickford at full stretch.
Goodison grumbled. Palace grew. Everton looked stuck in last season’s film.
Then Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall ripped up the script.
Just before the break, the midfielder lashed a left-footed drive across Dean Henderson and into the far corner. One clean strike, and the mood inside the ground flipped. Palace, who had threatened to stroll in a goal up, walked down the tunnel trailing and wondering how.
The goal changed more than the scoreline. Everton came out after the interval with an edge that had been missing for most of the first half.
Barry delivers, Ndiaye shines
The pressure finally told with Barry’s goal, a finish that spoke of timing and conviction rather than a forward haunted by last season’s drought.
From a quickly-taken Hackney free-kick, Iliman Ndiaye whipped in a teasing delivery with minimum fuss. Barry attacked it from five yards, driving a downward header beyond Henderson. Simple on the eye, brutal in its effect.
Ndiaye looked the sharpest attacker on the pitch, drifting into pockets, demanding the ball, and repeatedly asking questions of Palace’s back line. Hackney, on his Premier League debut, played with a calm authority in front of the defence, shifting the ball crisply and reading danger well.
Yet even in victory, the issues for Moyes were hard to ignore. The reliance on moments rather than sustained attacking fluency remains. The lack of depth in forward areas still looms large over the rest of the window.
Palace waste their chances, Sage faces questions
Pierre Sage has his own problems.
Palace arrived on Merseyside with a recent honours list Everton can only envy: an FA Cup in 2025 and a Europa Conference League title to go with it. They have lifted more silverware in the last two seasons than Everton have managed in the last 31 years.
On this evidence, they still carry a threat. With sharper finishing, they could easily have been the side walking away with a 2-0 win.
But Sage was without Ismaila Sarr, absent amid rumours he had refused to train to force a move to Galatasaray. Without that outlet, Palace’s cutting edge dulled just when they needed it most. Mateta’s misses and Nketiah’s frustration told their own story.
Palace continued to probe, but once Barry doubled Everton’s lead the visitors never truly looked like clawing it back. The game drifted away from them, their bright early work undone by wastefulness in front of goal and a lack of composure at key moments.
For Moyes, the final whistle brought relief and a platform. For Sage, it brought a reminder that trophies do not buy you time if the goals dry up.
Ipswich 2 Sunderland 1
Portman Road has waited a long time for a day like this. Ninety minutes, then one more. And in that extra heartbeat, Jack Clarke twisted the knife into his old club.
The substitute struck in the 90th minute to give newly-promoted Ipswich a dramatic 2-1 win over Sunderland, punishing a loose pass from Omar Alderete and igniting a stadium that has seen just one previous Premier League home victory in the last 24 years.
Gary O’Neil’s first competitive game in charge, after replacing Kieran McKenna in June, always felt like the start of something. Twelve summer signings, six of them handed full debuts, spoke of ambition. The challenge was to match it on the pitch.
Enciso dazzles, Angulo hits back
Early on, Sunderland threatened to spoil the party. Trai Hume was given too much time after four minutes and slipped in Brian Brobbey, only for Leif Davis to race back with a crucial block. Debutant goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen then suffered a shaky moment on the ball before Ipswich finally settled.
When they did, they struck.
Emersonn, making his first start, had already tested Robin Roefs with a header. In the 24th minute he made it count, but the move belonged to Julio Enciso. The former Brighton forward, back after impressing on loan last season, intercepted Luke O’Nien’s pass, glided past the defender and Dan Ballard, then calmly squared for Emersonn to slide home.
It was a goal of pure incision, a glimpse of what Enciso might yet bring over a full campaign.
Just as Ipswich looked in control, the sting arrived. Granit Xhaka won a free-kick on the edge of the area in the 39th minute, and Nilson Angulo stepped up with a magnificent effort, curling over the wall and in off the crossbar. One swing of the boot, and a raucous home crowd fell silent.
The sides went in level at 1-1, the sense of a knife-edge contest thick in the air.
Clarke’s cold finish settles it
Ipswich emerged from the break with renewed intent. Abdul Fatawu twice came close to engineering a second goal, stretching Sunderland on the flanks and forcing them deeper.
Both managers turned to their benches in search of a winner. O’Neil’s change proved decisive.
As full-time loomed, Alderete, on as a Sunderland substitute, played a wayward pass. Sasa Lukic pounced and fed Clarke. The winger cut inside, opened his body and curled low into the bottom corner beyond Roefs.
Portman Road erupted. Sunderland, who had finished seventh on their own return to the top flight in 2025-26 and provided the template Ipswich are desperate to follow, were left with only regret.
One game into the new era, Ipswich have their statement win. Now comes the hard part: turning a dramatic opening day into a sustained Premier League stay.
Nottingham Forest 0 Leeds 1
Not since 1972 had Leeds won a league game at the City Ground. Anton Stach chose the 88th minute to tear that statistic up.
The midfielder’s low free-kick from the edge of the area nicked a 1-0 victory that Leeds scarcely deserved on chances created, but gladly accepted after a dogged afternoon under pressure.
For Forest, under new boss Oliver Glasner and talking openly about a top-half finish, this felt horribly familiar. Same missed chances. Same punishment.
Forest dominate, but can’t finish
The opening exchanges were flat, but Forest soon found their stride. In the 16th minute, Igor Jesus met Ola Aina’s long throw with a firm header, only for James Trafford to stretch and claw it away.
Aina then survived a VAR check for serious foul play after a challenge on James Justin, before the officials again favoured Forest when Harry Wilson’s tidy finish was correctly ruled offside.
Forest tightened their grip. Five minutes before the break, James McAtee delivered a perfect cross for Nikola Milenkovic, whose glancing header struck the post. Jesus pounced on the rebound but could not convert. It was the sort of scramble that summed up Forest’s afternoon.
After half-time, the pattern barely changed. Another Aina cross found Jesus, who headed down and over from close range. Chris Wood came off the bench and was sent clear by a sharp Murillo through ball, only to drag his shot wide.
Leeds, pinned back for long spells, still carried a set-piece threat. Matz Sels had to fling himself across goal to keep out a Tarik Muharemovic header, a warning that Forest failed to heed.
Glasner’s side kept coming. Trafford tipped a looping Milenkovic effort onto the crossbar, yet the net refused to bulge.
Stach delivers the sucker-punch
The punishment arrived late and ruthlessly.
With two minutes of normal time left, Leeds won a free-kick on the corner of the penalty area. Stach stepped up and whipped a low effort towards the near post. Sels couldn’t keep it out. The away end exploded, Leeds players swarming their match-winner.
It was, in every sense, a smash-and-grab. Leeds, who flirted with relegation last season but have ambitions of climbing the table, now carry momentum into Tuesday’s Carabao Cup rematch with Forest.
For Glasner, the lesson is stark. Forest can talk about the top half all they like, but until they solve the problem in front of goal, days like this will keep dragging them back to earth.
