Everton holds Crystal Palace to a draw with strong defense and Pickford’s saves

Everton’s new era started with a familiar formula: defend well, let Jordan Pickford do the rest, and take whatever result falls out the other end. The Toffees held Crystal Palace to a draw on the opening day of the 2026/27 Premier League season, a match defined more by what didn’t go in than what did.

The fixture, played on August 22, marked the first competitive Premier League match at Everton’s gleaming Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool.

Pickford’s wall and Palace’s frustration

Crystal Palace controlled large stretches of the match but ran into the same problem teams have faced against Everton for years: getting past Pickford. The England international made several crucial stops to keep the scoreline level, none more important than his denial of Eddie Nketiah after Adam Wharton threaded a well-timed through-ball into the striker’s path.

Nketiah’s effort struck the post, the kind of near-miss that haunts forwards on the drive home.

Jean-Philippe Mateta also found himself on the wrong end of Pickford’s reflexes.

In front of Pickford, Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski formed a center-back partnership that gave Palace’s attacking players little room to operate in the penalty area.

New stadium, new managers, old habits

This was a match loaded with narrative threads beyond the scoreline. The Hill Dickinson Stadium, the club’s long-awaited replacement for Goodison Park, finally hosted top-flight football. And David Moyes, back in the Everton dugout, was overseeing his first Premier League game of this latest stint.

On the other side, Oliver Glasner faced his own opening-day pressures. Glasner’s use of Wharton in a deep-lying creative role showed ambition, with the midfielder’s passing range consistently finding gaps in Everton’s defensive block.

The bigger picture for both sides

Everton entered this fixture on the back of an impressive recent record against Palace, having gone unbeaten in their last 11 meetings between the two clubs, across six wins and five draws heading into this match. The Toffees extended it to 12 games without defeat.

Pre-match betting odds had pegged the draw as the most likely outcome at approximately 5/2, and the bookmakers were vindicated.

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