Premier League 2026/27 opens with Everton-Crystal Palace and Forest-Leeds

The Everton-Crystal Palace encounter features a manager with deep Premier League pedigree against a coach making his English top-flight debut. Everton boss David Moyes will be taking charge of his 754th Premier League match, a tally surpassed only by Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson, and he will stand in the dugout for the 19th time on the opening day of a season. The 63-year-old will hope to avoid a repeat of last term's late collapse, when Everton failed to win any of their final seven games and missed out on European qualification. Everton have added attacking midfielder Merlin Rohl from Freiburg, former Arsenal midfielder Christian Norgaard, and last season's Championship player of the season Hayden Hackney from Middlesbrough. Winger Brennan Johnson could face his old club after joining from Palace last week.

Crystal Palace's new manager Pierre Sage takes charge for the first time in a competitive match. The 47-year-old Frenchman was hired after guiding Lens to second place in Ligue 1 and the club's first Coupe de France title last season. Palace will play in their debut Europa League campaign this term, but Sage's immediate focus is the league. Palace's summer signings include Dwight McNeil, who moved from Everton in a separate deal that took Johnson the other way, winger Anan Khalaili from Union Saint-Gilloise, right-back Oscar Mingueza from Celta Vigo, and former Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu.

The Nottingham Forest-Leeds United match pits two sides with mutual animosity and differing views on Brian Clough. Forest had four permanent managers last season — Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and Vitor Pereira — and now turn to Austrian Oliver Glasner, who won three trophies in his final two seasons at Crystal Palace and is expected to implement his 3-4-3 system. Forest beat Bayer Leverkusen and Brest in pre-season, but only midfielder Xaver Schlager and defender Ousmane Diomande have arrived as outfield players, leaving the squad weakened by the departure of Elliot Anderson. Leeds, who finished three points and two places above Forest last term, are managed by Daniel Farke, who guided the club to survival after a poor start. Leeds enjoyed an impressive pre-season with wins over Liverpool, RB Leipzig and Augsburg. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has looked sharp after scoring 14 league goals last season, while Harry Wilson adds attacking depth and James Trafford has arrived from Manchester City to strengthen the goalkeeping position.

Broadcast details vary by region. In the United States, Everton vs Crystal Palace airs on USA Network, while Nottingham Forest vs Leeds is on Peacock. Both services are available through platforms such as YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV and DirecTV, which offer free trials. In Canada, both matches are on Fubo, which offers a quarterly package starting at CA$14.99 per month for the first three months. Australian viewers can watch on Stan Sport, which has a new Basic tier at AU$9.99 plus a AU$20 sports add-on covering all 380 Premier League games. In the United Kingdom, neither game is televised due to the traditional Saturday 3pm blackout, which prohibits live broadcasts of matches at that time; highlights will be available later on the Sky Sports app and BBC One's Match of the Day.