Full Time
Everton and Crystal Palace shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park. Tarkowski put the home side ahead just before the half-hour, but Mateta levelled things up for Palace on the hour mark. Neither side could find a winner after that, and honestly neither did much to deserve one. A point apiece on the opening weekend for both clubs — no disasters, no fireworks, just a fairly even afternoon.
Pre-match Talking Points
Match talking points will appear here before kick-off.
Team Talking Points
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1Everton are fifth in the Premier League after coming from behind to beat promoted Coventry 3-1 last Friday. It was their third league win in a row. If you'd told an Everton fan a couple of years ago they'd be looking down on most of the league in November, they'd have asked what you were drinking.
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2Thierno Barry was the hero, scoring twice in about four minutes and setting up another, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall adding the third. Barry is the name to drop right now. He's turned into exactly the kind of big, awkward centre-forward Goodison fans always loved, now playing at the new stadium.
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3David Moyes was refreshingly honest afterwards. He admitted Coventry made it 'really difficult' and Everton were lucky not to concede a penalty for a James Tarkowski challenge before half-time. Managers who admit they got away with one are rare, so enjoy it.
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4That win was Moyes's 592nd game in charge of Everton, level with Harry Catterick for the most in the club's history. Catterick won two league titles, so it's a proper bit of company. Assuming he's in the dugout at Brentford on 23 November, Moyes takes the record outright.
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5The fixture list after the break is spicy, with a Merseyside derby against Liverpool coming up in the next few weeks. For the first time in a long while, Everton might go into it higher up the table than their neighbours care to admit.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Moyes is about to become the longest-serving manager in Everton's history, and the team's actually playing like it. Fifth in November isn't a fluke anymore.
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Avoid saying
"Everton are always in a relegation scrap" — that line was depressingly accurate for a while, which is exactly why fans in the top five will take great pleasure in correcting you.
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1Palace go into the international break bottom of the Premier League after a 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool on Sunday. Eddie Nketiah's stoppage-time penalty was a consolation, not a comeback. Being bottom in November isn't fatal, but it is the sort of thing fans prefer you don't mention first.
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2Manager Pierre Sage is under serious pressure, and the reports this week say his time could be up. Former Brentford and Spurs boss Thomas Frank is the bookies' favourite to replace him, with The Telegraph naming him as the frontrunner. Nothing's official yet, so 'I hear Frank's in the frame' sounds well-informed, while 'Sage has gone' might be a bit premature.
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3This slump has been building. A 5-0 hammering by Brighton a few weeks ago is the result Palace fans really don't want to relive, mostly because it was Brighton, their fiercest rivals. If you bring it up, expect a long stare.
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4There were glimmers against Liverpool. Jørgen Strand Larsen had a goal chalked off for offside by VAR and Yeremy Pino hit the crossbar, so it wasn't a total surrender. Palace fans will tell you the margins have gone against them, and on Sunday they had a point.
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5Don't forget this is the club that won the FA Cup in 2025, their first major trophy ever. Going from Wembley glory to the bottom of the table in about 18 months is a very Premier League kind of whiplash. Mention the Cup win and you'll cheer up any Palace fan instantly.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Whoever ends up in the Palace dugout, the first job is just stopping the leaks. They're not as bad as the table says, but they're getting close.
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Avoid saying
"Just bring Roy Hodgson back again" — it's been said as a joke so many times that Palace fans have stopped laughing, and the man has done his bit for the club twice over already.