Everton begin another chapter of their long league history against Crystal Palace tomorrow, when the Hill Dickinson hosts the Blues’ first fixture of a new season for the first time.
Football did not begin in 1992. Everton certainly did not.
The Blues, as you know, were one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888 and played their first league fixture on 8 September that year, beating Accrington 2-1 at Anfield.
The 2026/27 campaign will be Everton’s 128th season of league football, a history interrupted by the suspension of the regular league programme during the two world wars.
Everton were there for the beginning of the Football League and, more than a century later, became founder members of the Premier League in 1992.
Tomorrow represents another small piece of that history.
Everton’s first season at the Hill Dickinson was obviously 2025/26, but they began that campaign away from home with a 1-0 defeat at Leeds United.
Their first Premier League game at HDS came against Brighton the following weekend. Everton won 2-0, with Iliman Ndiaye scoring the first competitive Everton goal at the stadium before James Garner added the second.
This time there is no away trip first.
For the first time, Everton will begin a league season at the Hill Dickinson.
And if David Moyes’ side are looking for another reason to make the occasion count, their recent opening-day record provides one.
Everton’s Premier League opening-day record
Everton have played in every Premier League season since it was formed in 1992, making Saturday the start of their 35th campaign in the competition.
Across the previous 34 opening fixtures, the record is:
Record Total
Played 34
Won 9
Drawn 12
Lost 13
Goals scored 37
Goals conceded 48
Everton have therefore won just over a quarter of their opening fixtures during the Premier League era.
When beginning a Premier League campaign at home, the numbers have not been significantly better.
Across 22 home openers, Everton have won six, drawn seven and lost nine, scoring 25 goals and conceding 35.
Their first Premier League fixture came at Goodison Park on 15 August 1992, when Barry Horne scored in a 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday.
Thirty-four years later, Everton are preparing to begin another Premier League season on home soil, but in very different surroundings.
Four successive defeats – and four games without a goal
The most striking statistic is also the most recent.
Everton have lost their opening Premier League fixture in each of the past four seasons.
More concerning still, they have failed to score in all four.
Chelsea won 1-0 at Goodison Park in August 2022, before Fulham repeated the scoreline on Merseyside 12 months later.
Brighton then inflicted a 3-0 defeat in Everton’s final opening-day fixture at Goodison Park in 2024.
Last season brought a change of stadium, but Everton’s campaign started on the road. A 1-0 defeat at Leeds extended the sequence to four successive opening-day losses.
The last Everton player to score in the opening fixture of a Premier League season was Dominic Calvert-Lewin against Southampton in August 2021.
Everton won that game 3-1 after second-half goals from Richarlison, Abdoulaye Doucouré and Calvert-Lewin.
Five years on, they are still waiting for another opening-day goal.
Everton’s last 10 Premier League openers
The four-match losing run followed a considerably healthier sequence.
Season Opponent Venue Result
2025/26 Leeds United Away L 0-1
2024/25 Brighton Home L 0-3
2023/24 Fulham Home L 0-1
2022/23 Chelsea Home L 0-1
2021/22 Southampton Home W 3-1
2020/21 Tottenham Away W 1-0
2019/20 Crystal Palace Away D 0-0
2018/19 Wolves Away D 2-2
2017/18 Stoke City Home W 1-0
2016/17 Tottenham Home D 1-1
Everton’s record across those 10 matches is three wins, three draws and four defeats, with eight goals scored and 10 conceded.
Before the current sequence began, the Blues had gone five successive opening fixtures unbeaten.
That included an impressive 1-0 victory away to Tottenham in September 2020, when Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s second-half header gave Carlo Ancelotti’s side all three points.
A year later, Everton came from behind to beat Southampton 3-1 at Goodison.
Since then, the opening weekend has offered little encouragement.
From Fellaini against Man United to Arsenal’s six
There have been some memorable first days during Everton’s Premier League years.
One of the best came under David Moyes in August 2012.
United arrived at Goodison Park for a Monday night fixture and were beaten 1-0, with Marouane Fellaini heading the winner.
United went on to win the Premier League title in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in management.
Everton also started with a 2-0 home victory over Newcastle United in 1996, while successive seasons in 2006 and 2007 brought 2-1 Goodison wins over Watford and Wigan Athletic respectively.
At the other end of the scale sits an afternoon Evertonians needed little reminding of.
Arsenal travelled to Goodison on the opening weekend of 2009/10 and won 6-1, Everton’s heaviest opening-day defeat of the Premier League era.
There was another heavy home loss against Arsenal in August 2004, when the visitors won 4-1.
More recently, Brighton’s 3-0 victory in August 2024 ensured Everton’s final season at Goodison began on a particularly flat note.
Crystal Palace are familiar opening-day opponents
There is another historical thread running through tomorrow’s fixture.
This will be the third time Everton and Crystal Palace have met in the opening fixture of a Premier League season.
The first came at Goodison Park in August 1997, when Palace won 2-1. Duncan Ferguson scored Everton’s goal.
They met again at Selhurst Park in August 2019.
That game finished goalless, with Everton ending the afternoon with 10 men after Morgan Schneiderlin was sent off.
Everton are therefore still looking for their first Premier League opening-day victory over Palace.
Tomorrow would be an appropriate time to find it.
Hill Dickinson offers Everton the chance of a different start
The move from Goodison Park to the Hill Dickinson represented the biggest physical change in Everton’s modern history.
Its first Premier League afternoon could hardly have gone much better.
After losing at Leeds on the opening weekend, Moyes’ side returned to Merseyside to face Brighton.
Ndiaye gave Everton the lead and, in doing so, became the first player to score a competitive Everton goal at HDS. Garner made it 2-0 after half-time, while Jordan Pickford saved a penalty.
It was the sort of afternoon Everton had hoped their new stadium would produce.
Tomorrow is a bit different.
There will be no sense of unveiling this time. No newness.
Instead, the significance comes from the fixture calendar.
For the first time since leaving Goodison Park, Everton will walk out at their new home on the opening weekend of a league season.
It connects three distinct periods of the club’s history.
Everton began their first Football League campaign at Anfield in 1888. They opened their first Premier League season at Goodison Park in 1992.
Now, in 2026, a new league season begins at Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time.
History alone will not help Moyes’ side beat Crystal Palace.
But after four consecutive opening-day defeats, four games without a goal and five years since their last opening-weekend victory, Everton have an opportunity to give their newest home a first that matters.
Please.
For updates on the Toffees throughout the season, take a look at our LIVE! Premier League 2026 / 27 News, Transfers, Updates & Viral Moments page.
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