Everton vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Goodison Park is the venue as Everton and Brighton & Hove Albion go head-to-head in their curtain-raising 2024/25 Premier League meeting.

Despite two separate point deductions midway through the 2023/24 campaign, Everton avoided relegation from the Premier League by pulling out an admirable 15th-place finish. Manager Sean Dyche hopes a more peaceful season is on the horizon for the Toffees as they gear up for their last campaign at the iconic Goodison Park. Losing star midfielder Amadou Onana to Aston Villa over the summer won’t help. However, the Merseyside team can draw inspiration from a two-game unbeaten stretch at the end of their pre-season preparations (W1, D1). Everton will look to translate that form to their opening Premier League fixture and avoid starting a new league campaign with a loss for the third straight year, having gone unbeaten in a curtain-raising fixture in ten consecutive seasons beforehand.

In the meantime, a mediocre 11th-place finish in 2023/24 didn’t go well with the Brighton powerbrokers, as they sacked manager Roberto De Zerbi at the end of last season. The Seagulls enter the new campaign under the guidance of 31-year-old Fabian Hürzeler – the youngest permanent boss in Premier League history. Hurzeler oversaw an inspiring off-season, with Brighton winning all four summer friendlies while scoring at least four goals three times. Buoyed by a superb pre-season form, the visitors travel to Goodison seeking a victory at the start of a new league season for the fourth year on the trot – a feat they’ve never achieved in their history. Scoring first could be of the essence, considering the team to break the deadlock has never lost a Premier League encounter between Everton and Brighton (W10, D3).