Everton Beat Crystal Palace 2-0 as Chadi Riad Suffers Serious-Looking Injury

Everton beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at Hill Dickinson Stadium in a Premier League opener overshadowed by a serious-looking injury to Palace defender Chadi Riad, who was stretchered off in tears late in the match.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall broke the deadlock shortly before half-time with a thunderous strike into the top corner, before Thierno Barry doubled Everton's lead eight minutes into the second half, heading home a pinpoint Iliman Ndiaye cross. Palace, in Pierre Sage's first game in charge following his move from Lens, had chances of their own, twice striking the woodwork through Eddie Nketiah and Jean-Philippe Mateta, but couldn't find a way past David Moyes' well-organised hosts. The result gave Everton their first opening-day win since 2021 and ended a run of four straight defeats to start a season without scoring.

The bigger story by full time was the fitness of Chadi Riad, who appeared to twist his knee attempting to block a Vitaliy Mykolenko cross in the second half. The Morocco international was in visible distress, pulling his shirt over his head as he was carried off on a stretcher and replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu. The 23-year-old has already endured a difficult run of injuries at Palace, having previously missed a combined 430 days through a cruciate ligament issue and other setbacks, and the club will now face an anxious wait for the results of scans before knowing the extent of the latest blow.

Everton, who ended last season without European qualification after a poor run of form, will look to build on the win, while Sage and Palace turn their attention to assessing the fallout from Riad's injury ahead of their next fixture.