Everton beat Crystal Palace 2-0 with surgical finishing in the Premier League

Everton beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at Hill Dickinson Stadium in a Premier League clash in which the hosts made the most of two clinical strikes to claim all three points despite not being the team that controlled possession.

A game short on clear chances, but efficient for Everton

The first half was even in terms of danger created: Crystal Palace had the first look through a Jean-Philippe Mateta shot that flew over the bar, and later Mateta himself struck the right post in the 37th minute after a well-worked counterattack involving Eddie Nketiah. Even so, it was Everton who struck first right before the break: in the 41st minute, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall curled a left-footed shot from inside the box into the top right corner, assisted by Harrison Armstrong. The teams went into halftime with Everton ahead 1-0.

The second half began and Everton quickly doubled their lead. In the 52nd minute, following a free kick played into the box, Iliman Ndiaye delivered a cross that Thierno Barry headed home from close range to make it 2-0. The early second-half goal forced Crystal Palace to push more numbers forward in search of a way back into the game, prompting Oliver Glasner to bring on Yeremy Pino, Jorgen Strand Larsen and Evann Guessand.

Despite the visitors' late push, which produced chances through Guessand and Strand Larsen in the closing minutes, Everton held firm defensively and had some counterattacking chances of their own that went unconverted, including a stoppage-time shot from Charly Alcaraz that was saved by the opposing goalkeeper.

The numbers behind the match

The stats reflect a contest in which Crystal Palace controlled more of the ball, but Everton were more clinical when it mattered most.

The big chances tally clearly favors Crystal Palace, who had four to Everton's one, confirming that the hosts were far more effective with the little they created. This is also reflected in the match's post-match expected goals (xG): 1.564 for Everton and 1.68 for Crystal Palace, a figure suggesting a more even contest than the final scoreline showed.

What the preview said versus what happened on the field

Before kickoff, our projection gave Everton a 38% chance of winning, with a 29% chance of a draw and a 33% chance of a Crystal Palace victory, with expected goals of 1.42 for the hosts and 1.29 for the visitors. The final result ended up being more favorable to Everton than that forecast suggested, since the Hill Dickinson Stadium side not only won but did so by a two-goal margin without conceding, an outcome the pre-match projection did not clearly anticipate.

What the result means

With this win, Everton reach 3 points after their first match of the competition, with a goal difference of plus 2, while Crystal Palace remain on 0 points following the defeat, with a goal difference of minus 2. The gap between the two sides in the table stands at 3 points, though it is worth remembering this is only the first matchday, so the standings still say little about the real level of either team. For Everton, the finishing from Dewsbury-Hall and Barry made the difference; for Crystal Palace, Mateta's shot off the post and the missed chances in the second half stand as a reminder that the result could have gone differently.