Everton's emerging talents shine in opening-day triumph over Palace

Opening days are made for dreaming but they haven’t been a source of much optimism on the Blue side of Merseyside for quite some time now. It was five years since Everton last got off the mark with three points and while that season under Rafael Benitez soon fell apart, the signs are that the current version of the Toffees has better days ahead.

Even allowing for James Tarkowski’s relatively advanced years, David Moyes’s team to face Crystal Palace this afternoon had an average age of just under 25, emblematic of a more youthful side that will, hopefully, provide the platform from which this club can start taking meaningful strides forward.

Encouragingly, in the absence from the starting XI of the more experienced Christian Nørgaard and James Garner, the youngest of the bunch played a starring role, setting up Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for a stunning opener and standing tall in midfield alongside the equally impressive Hayden Hackney on his Premier League debut.

There was some question over whether Harrison Armstrong would be farmed out on loan following Nørgaard’s arrival from Arsenal but the 19-year-old carried his excellent pre-season form into the first game of 2026/27 and has surely cemented his place in the squad for this season with what was a strong case for man of the match.

Given that lack of experience in the middle, a little raggedness could have been expected and there were times in the first half today at Bramley-Moore Dock where Everton were disconcertingly open. Just like this fixture in October last year, Palace found success playing through Everton’s lines in the early going and were it not for Jordan Pickford and profligate finishing from Jean-Philippe Mateta things might have turned out differently.

The Toffees found their feet in an uneven first half, though, and, by the final whistle, had not only taken command of the game and doubled their lead in the second period but had made the visitors look decidedly ordinary under their new manager, Pierre Sage.

With the search for a right-back still proving fruitless even at this late stage of the transfer window, all eyes were on what Moyes would do in that position for this game. Merlin Röhl, perhaps the stand-out performer in pre-season, got the nod over Jake O’Brien while Hackney went straight into the side and Tyrique George made only his second start since joining the Blues on loan in January.

There were some shaky moments, however, before things settled down. Moyes spoke in the lead-up about how he wants his team to have greater control of matches, particularly at home, but it was the visitors who looked the more assured before they were undone by Dewsbury-Hall shortly before half-time.

Indeed, Sage will wonder how his men hadn’t pinched the lead inside the first 20 minutes. A mistake from James Tarkowski had gifted Eddie Nketiah the ball in only the third minute but Mateta couldn’t steer his cut-back from the byline on target inside the six-yard box.

Pickford then had to save from Daniel Muñoz as the wing-back popped up with a free effort on goal before England’s No 1 denied Nketiah with a quite brilliant fingertip save onto the post in the 19th minute.

In between, Röhl had been played in by a slide-rule pass from Dewsbury-Hall but Iliman Ndiaye’s shot was parried away by Dean Henderson in what had, to that point, been a rare piece of incisiveness from Everton. The Blues frequently let themselves down with some indecision and lack of belief in the final third and were almost punished at the other end seven minutes before half-time.

Dwight McNeil collected Adam Wharton’s forward pass and picked out Nketiah and when the forward squared it for Mateta, it had 1-0 written all over it until the Frenchman’s side-foot shot came back off the post.

And four minutes later, after Thierno Barry had mis-controlled Dewsbury-Hall’s inviting centre and the latter had had a goal bound shot blocked by Chris Richards' arm, Everton broke the deadlock.

Armstrong stepped in to rob Muñoz of the ball down the left channel and quickly found Dewsbury-Hall who hammered a beautiful strike across Henderson and inside the far post to put the home side ahead.

Muñoz should have done better with a header that he could only put wide in first-half stoppage time but that would be the extent of Palace’s threat to Pickford’s goal until the final 10 minutes of the second half because Everton seized the initiative after the interval.

In combination with greater purpose and fluidity playing through the lines when in possession and increased pressure on Palace’s attempts to play out from the back themselves, they forced a couple of early corners and then won a free-kick wide on the right when Ndiaye was felled by Chadi Riad.

Hackney’s quick thinking released the Senegalese into space where he whipped a perfect ball in for Barry to rise with Chris Richards and nod home in off the defender to make it 2-0 in the 53rd minute. If the Frenchman is awarded the goal it would represent the first of what Evertonians fervently hope will be the first of many after he took so long to get off the mark last season.

It was almost 3-0 not long afterwards, Dewsbury-Hall and Barry combining down the opposite flank before the latter clipped a teasing ball into the box for Ndiaye but Henderson was equal to his volleyed effort from around 12 yards out.

Then, after another Ndiaye strike was palmed away to safety, the contest entered an extended lull from the hosts’ perspective as Sage made a number of attacking changes and Palace set about trying to find a way back into the contest.

They lacked the penetration they’d enjoyed in the first half, however, as Everton’s greater organisation thwarted their progress and on the odd occasion they were able to fashion an opening Evann Guessand fired tamely at Pickford, Jarrad Branthwaite repelled Jaydee Canvot’s low drive and Jørgen Strand Larsen headed straight at the keeper from close range.

Meanwhile, George, who had exhibited pleasing flourishes of speed and determination down the left, lashed a loose ball across the face of goal and Beto, on for Barry in a 79th-minute double substitution that also saw Garner replace Hackney, spurned a good opening when he momentarily found himself alone in space outside the opposition area.

Moyes will know Everton can play better and that he will need further reinforcements before the deadline but he will take enormous satisfaction from grabbing an opening-day win.

Right-back remains a concern — Röhl didn’t lack for enthusiasm or a willingness to drive forward but he struggled at times on the defensive side — and the club might feel that getting money in the door for Beto now and drafting in more experienced back-up would be preferable to losing the Portugal-born striker for nothing next year.

But there was much to be admired and much to foster excitement among the younger members of this evolving squad from what was a solid and hugely welcome first win of the new campaign.