It’s that time of the year again! Everton return to Premier league action at the Hill Dickinson Stadium when they face Crystal Palace on Saturday. Kicking off the new season with an old school 3PM kick-off is an ideal way to start, especially against a team who Everton seem to have a bit of a hex over.
The Toffees finished pre-season with another strong and promising against French side Lille in the form of a 1-1 draw. Everton took the lead through yet another penalty, but Lille snatched a draw in the third minute of injury time. Despite this late setback, there were still many positives for David Moyes to take heading into the season: the young wingers again looked promising, with Tyler Dibling showing more and more confidence with every game that goes by; Harrison Armstrong and Hayden Hackney showed that they both a key part to play in this Everton squad this season; and Thierno Barry once again lead the line superbly.
In terms of Saturday’s opponents, Palace have had a mixed bag of pre-season results, with 3-0 defeats to both Freiburg and Bromley whilst also recording a 5-1 win over Swindon. Despite this, Palace will be looking forward to their first season in the Europa League after their Conference League triumph last season. Even after the departure of Oliver Glasner, you would be surprised if the Eagles failed to finish around mid-table once again this season.
Everton and Crystal Palace – History
Everton are unbeaten in their last 11 meetings against the Eagles, with their last defeat being a 4-0 defeat in the FA Cup, back in 2022.
Since 1997, Everton have only lost 5 out of their 34 matches against Crystal Palace.
Both teams have recently been involved in transfer activity, with the straight swap of Dwight McNeil and Brennan Johnson.
Team News
Christian Norgaard has revealed he is recovering from a small injury, from which he says he has ‘no timeframe’ on when he will be back.
Jordan Pickford is now back with the squad, after having started the game against Lille.
James Garner is still a serious doubt as he recovers from surgery.
Tim Iroegbunam remains sidelined.
Everton Key Player
Jarrad Branthwaite – Everton’s star defender is, finally, fit to start a Premier League season after a summer which has seen his minutes managed. The 24-year-old made just ten appearances for the Blues last season, with his last coming in April’s derby defeat to Liverpool; a stat which underlines how injuries have hampered his career in the last couple of years as well as completely ruining his chances of making England’s 2026 World Cup squad.
Everton can only be at their very best when Branthwaite is fit. That’s a fact. The issue is, as always seems to be the Blues’ luck with top players, he never seems to be able to get himself consistently fit. Even during this pre-season he has been limping during matches despite being slowly eased back into action; it’s such a worry whenever he shows signs of discomfort.
That being said, this could be a huge season for Branthwaite. Being out of the spotlight for so long has put the Manchester United transfer rumours of last summer behind him, and perhaps what he needs most is a season under the radar in what should be a stable Everton squad to regain his fitness and get back to doing what he does best. Who knows, perhaps with a season of over 30 starts under his belt, he could even get a spot in an England squad, at some point in the near future.
One to Watch for Crystal Palace
Ismaila Sarr – Palace have had some special attackers over the years in Wilfried Zaha, Eberechi Eze, and Michael Olise, who all rightly received their plaudits, but none seemed quite as underrated as this man. Coming off the back of a 21 goal season, Sarr scored another four goals in the World Cup for Senegal, even keeping Everton forward Iliman Ndiaye out of the team with his form. Sarr has a proven history of scoring goals everywhere he goes; he even managed two double digit hauls in his Watford days. Generating an xG of 0.45 every 90 minutes, it’s not hard to see why he can find the back of the net so often.
It’s no secret that Everton have been keen on Sarr for years now. Rumours of Sarr to Everton have flown around every transfer window since 2020, even when he had a poor season in Marseille. Since then, though, he has revitalised his career at Palace and he seems the perfect fit for their system. Glasner always used two inside forwards behind the striker, allowing his wing-backs to bomb forward and essentially become wingers in possession; Sarr fits the inside forward mould perfectly, and this system is one which new Everton signing Brennan Johnson was completely unaccustomed to. It will be interesting to see how Sarr fares this season under new manager Pierre Sage.
Final Thoughts
Everton are gaining an unfortunate reputation for being some of the slowest starters to Premier League seasons, in particular on the opening day. The Blues have failed to score in their opening fixture in each of the last four seasons, the latest of which being a 1-0 defeat at Elland Road. This is simply not good enough, and can only be put down to a lack of preparation from the players, the managers, and, perhaps most importantly, those in charge of summer transfers. Once again, those high up at Everton have failed to adequately prepare the squad from Gameweek 1, as has been the case for the last half a decade. Whilst this is understandable to some extent as the transfer window doesn’t close until after Gameweek 2, thus leaving all of the late madness well into the new season, it is still unacceptable that this Everton squad is going into another season in the top flight with such a glaring hole at right back.
That being said, this is still a perfectly winnable game for Everton. Regardless of them being Palace’s ‘bogey team’, the Toffees have a slightly stronger team on paper, multiplied with the home advantage and at least the 18 months or so of experience with their manager.
In terms of a prediction, I will go with a 2-1 win for Everton. This game could end in any way and I would not be surprised at all, but I think that all runs must come to an end and Everton will break their opening day curse on Saturday. However, if all things must come to an end, that could mean the 11-match unbeaten run against Palace does, too…
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