🏏 Sat, 22 Aug 2026 15:00 BST
Everton
vs
Crystal Palace
4-2-3-1 vs 3-4-2-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Opening weekend brings a clear shape clash: Everton's 4-2-3-1 against Crystal Palace's 3-4-2-1. Palace stretch the pitch through their wing-backs, with Colombia international Daniel Munoz, a natural right-back who made 148 appearances for Genk, on one flank and academy product Tyrick Mitchell, past 180 games for the club, on the other. Everton's front four, led by 20-year-old Chelsea loanee Tyreeq George and Senegal forward Iliman Ndiaye, will look to attack the space those wing-backs leave behind.
- Everton's back line is built on height. Jarrad Branthwaite, the 24-year-old left-footed England centre-back who stands 195cm and spent a formative loan at PSV Eindhoven, partners 33-year-old captain James Tarkowski, schooled under Sean Dyche at Burnley. On the right sits Merlin Rohl, a 192cm German whose natural position is central midfield, on loan from SC Freiburg with a conditional obligation to buy.
- Palace answer with a young, technical back three: left-footed Morocco international Chadi Riad, 23, a Barcelona academy graduate who spent a season at Real Betis; USA centre-back Chris Richards, 26, a Bundesliga winner with Bayern Munich; and 20-year-old Jaydee Canvot, a Clairefontaine product and converted attacker who came from Toulouse in 2025. Handling 195cm striker Thierno Barry in the air is their first task.
- Japan international Daichi Kamada starts as one of the two shadow strikers behind Mateta. The 30-year-old won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt, moved on via Lazio and helped Palace lift the 2025 FA Cup, and his game is built on incisive through balls and late runs into the box. How often he can receive between Everton's double pivot will decide how fluently Palace attack.
- The midfield battle centres on Adam Wharton. Palace's 22-year-old holding midfielder was called into the England squad almost immediately after arriving from Blackburn Rovers and was part of the EURO 2024 group, and he dictates tempo with his left foot. Everton counter with legs: Middlesbrough-schooled Scotland midfielder Hayden Hackney, 24, and 19-year-old Harrison Armstrong, an Everton academy player since the age of five.
- Both centre-forwards are towering targets. Everton's Thierno Barry is 195cm and 23, arriving last summer after scoring 11 La Liga goals for Villarreal, and pairs that frame with genuine pace in behind. Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta is 192cm and 29, the man who hit 19 goals in 2023-24 and scored in the 2025 FA Cup final. Whichever forward wins his aerial duels will tilt the game.
- Dwight McNeil provides Palace's left-sided craft. The 26-year-old, developed at Burnley after leaving Manchester United's academy, delivers accurate crosses off his left foot and takes set-pieces with real precision. Alongside him in the second line is Eddie Nketiah, 27, who scored 38 goals in 168 appearances for Arsenal and once spent a loan spell at Leeds United, rotating fluidly with Mateta.
- It is also an all-English goalkeeping duel. Jordan Pickford, 32 and a Sunderland academy graduate, was England's number one at EURO 2020 and combines sharp shot-stopping with excellent distribution and vocal leadership. Opposite him is Palace club captain Dean Henderson, 29, a Manchester United product with Nottingham Forest on his CV who was central to the 2025 FA Cup triumph.
- Everton's bench includes a reunion: Jake O'Brien faces his former club. The 197cm Republic of Ireland centre-back left Crystal Palace for Olympique Lyon, where he played in Ligue 1, before joining Everton, and his aerial dominance plus the ability to fill in at right-back makes him a useful late option against set-pieces.
- Record signings line both benches. Everton can call on Wales winger Brennan Johnson, a 35 million pound club-record buy from Tottenham, 20-year-old Tyler Dibling, signed from Southampton for a club-record fee, and 194cm target man Beto. Palace hold Norway striker Jorgen Strand Larsen, a 48 million pound club-record arrival from Wolverhampton at 193cm, plus Spain winger Jeremy Pino, now wearing the number 10 shirt.