Everton v Crystal Palace: Prediction, lineups and betting tips

Everton open their first full campaign at Hill Dickinson Stadium with a fixture that has, historically, been kind to them. Crystal Palace arrive at Goodison Park's successor still searching for the away win against this opponent that has eluded them since the last century, and David Moyes will fancy his chances of making that run 11 without reply.

Glasner's side head to Merseyside off the back of a summer spent rebuilding after another close-season of outgoing interest in their better players. Everton, by contrast, go into round one with a settled spine and home advantage they have rarely relinquished in this fixture.

This is round one, so neither side has a Premier League form sequence to lean on yet. What Everton do have is a recent record against this opponent that few away sides in the division can point to: Crystal Palace have failed to win any of the last 10 meetings between the clubs, a run stretching back through six home wins and four draws.

Moyes has kept his spine together through the summer. Jordan Pickford remains first choice in goal, James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite have started the majority of Everton's competitive fixtures together over the past two seasons, and the front line built around Iliman Ndiaye carries more genuine goal threat than at any point since the move away from Goodison Park.

Crystal Palace travel to Merseyside still built around the core that won the FA Cup, the club's first major trophy, but that success has not translated into results on the road against Everton. Oliver Glasner's side lost the corresponding away fixture 2-1 in October 2025 and their most recent win on this ground remains a matter of Premier League record books rather than recent memory.

A positive result here would settle nerves after a summer of speculation about their better players. A repeat of last season's away trip, though, would leave Palace with more questions than answers heading into the rest of the fixture list.

Round one leaves both sides without a competitive result to point to this season, so the closest thing to a form guide is the historical head-to-head and the shape each manager takes into the campaign. Everton have not needed to change much: Moyes has kept the same defensive unit together for two years running, and continuity at the back tends to matter more in August than in April. Palace go into this one having reshaped their forward line again over the summer, and new signings settling into a first competitive fixture together is exactly the kind of variable that has undone them at this stadium before.

It is round one, so the table itself tells you nothing about either club yet. What it does confirm is the scale of the target for both sides this season: Everton have talked openly about pushing for a top-half finish under Moyes, while Palace's brief is to build on the momentum of an FA Cup win with a first serious tilt at a European place through the league itself rather than a one-off cup run.

A win here does not decide anything in August, but a poor start has derailed both of these clubs before. Everton in particular have found early-season points hard to come by in recent years, and beating a side they have a strong recent record against is the kind of banked points total that keeps pressure off Moyes through September.

The head-to-head picture is one-sided in a specific way. Across the last 10 meetings between these clubs, the home side has won 6, there have been 4 draws and the away side has not won once. Goals have not been in short supply either, with an average of 2.4 per meeting, both teams scoring in 60% of those games and over 2.5 goals landing in 60% of them too. The most recent meeting, at Selhurst Park on 10 May 2026, finished 2-2.

That pattern has held up recently rather than fading. Everton won 2-1 at home in October 2025 and were victorious away at Selhurst Park in February 2025, meaning neither venue has produced a Palace win in the sampled run. It points towards backing the goals markets again here, given six of the last 10 have gone over 2.5 and six have seen both sides score, but it leans hardest towards Everton simply not losing this fixture at home.

The clearest gap here is in central midfield. Everton go into the weekend without Garner, Iroegbunam and Norgaard, all injured, which leaves Moyes short of cover in a area Palace like to attack through Adam Wharton and Daichi Kamada. Palace's own doubt, goalkeeper Dean Henderson with an ankle problem, is arguably a bigger concern given the drop-off to their back-up option between the posts.

On balance, Everton's home advantage in this specific fixture outweighs their midfield absences. Palace have not found a way past this opponent on the road in a decade of trying, and an unsettled goalkeeping situation is not the ideal platform to finally do it.

Kickoff is at 3pm BST on Saturday 22 August. As with all Saturday 3pm fixtures, the match falls under the UK broadcast blackout and will not be shown live on television or streamed online within the UK. Radio coverage and live text commentary will be widely available for those unable to attend Hill Dickinson Stadium.

The standout angle for the bookmakers' market is how heavily Everton's home record against this specific opponent should weigh on the price. Backing the hosts to win, with the goals markets leaning over given six of the last 10 head-to-head meetings have produced over 2.5 goals, forms the backbone of our multi-market read below.