Everton survived an early scare to beat Crystal Palace at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and win their opening game of the Premier League season for the first time in five years.
Goals from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry either side of half-time were enough to earn the Blues their earliest victory in a new campaign since Rafa Benitez guided them to a 3-1 win over Southampton in August 2021.
It was also the first time in eight Premier League matches that David Moyes’ side had tasted victory, following a bleak seven-match winless run at the end of last season.
For Palace, the defeat for new manager Pierre Sage, who oversaw RC Lens’ impressive Ligue 1 campaign last season, means he becomes the 15th manager to have lost their first Premier League match in charge of the Eagles.
Before a ball had been kicked on Merseyside, Palace were facing an uphill battle as they were without last season’s top scorer Ismaila Sarr.
The 28-year-old forward, who netted 21 times across all competitions last term to help Palace win the Conference League, was not included in the travelling squad by Sage as he continues to be linked with a move to Turkish side Galatasaray.
The Eagles were left ruing Sarr’s absence with less than four minutes on the clock when Jean-Philippe Mateta blazed over from inside the area after Eddie Nketiah latched on to a weak defensive header from James Tarkowski.
Everton responded by almost taking the lead eight minutes later when Dewsbury-Hall slipped the ball through to makeshift full-back Merlin Rohl, who teed up Iliman Ndiaye to fire straight at Dean Henderson.
It was a cruel introduction to the Premier League for Sage, who watched on in disbelief as Nketiah and Mateta struck the woodwork before Dewsbury-Hall arrowed a strike into the far corner to put the home side ahead three minutes before the break.
It took Everton only eight minutes of the second half to double their advantage, with Thierno Barry heading past Henderson from close range after a wicked cross from Ndiaye.
The afternoon went from bad to worse for Palace midway through the second half when defender Chadi Riad was carried off on a stretcher after appearing to suffer a serious knee injury.
