Everton are due to jet off to the United States in late July, to take part in the Premier League Summer Series events. First up, the Blues will take on one of this season’s surprise packages, in Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth, with the match taking place on the 26th at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home to both of New York’s NFL franchises — the Giants and Jets.
Then, there’s a trip to face Graham Potter’s West Ham United at historic Soldier Field in Chicago on the 30th, where the NFL’s Bears play, as well as the Chicago Fire of the MLS. Potter, once heavily linked with the Everton job, has endured a rough time of it in London, so it should be interesting to see how David Moyes’ troops get on against his old club.
The series concludes with a match against Manchester United on Sunday, August 3rd at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, another multi-purpose ground in Atlanta, where you’ll typically see NFL outfit the Falcons and Atlanta United FC of the MLS in action. Ruben Amorim looks likely to lead out a much-changed side against the Toffees, following the Red Devils' worst Premier League campaign to date.
However, we now have some domestic dates to pencil in, with the club announcing two new rather more local fixtures today. Everton will kick off their preseason schedule with a visit to the interestingly-named Wham Stadium on July 15th, where they’ll take on Accrington Stanley, of League Two.
The Lancashire club are enduring some rough times, just about staying in the Football League by finishing 21st this season, having recently announced the closure of its academy, due to financial constraints. Let’s hope there’s a strong crowd for that one, as clubs operating towards the unglamorous end of the pyramid need all the help they can get in the current climate.
Next up, Everton will travel to face Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday, July 19th. The Championship outfit, one of a select group of non-heavyweight clubs to lift a Premier League title - back in the 1994-95 campaign - narrowly missed out on the playoffs recently, finishing seventh. They were well off the pace much of the way, but finished strongly, just falling short, despite winning four of their last five games under Valérien Ismaël, who was appointed in late February.
The Blues final preseason game, which will take place after the conclusion of the club’s US tour, has yet to be announced. It’s widely expected that the team’s opponents for that one, the first senior game to be played at Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium, will be Italian heavyweights AS Roma — also, of course, part of the TFG portfolio.