Iliman Ndiaye and James Garner were on target as Everton claimed a 2-0 win over Brighton in their first match at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The Toffees had announced the departure from Goodison Park after last season and played their last match at their 133-year old ground against Southampton in May.
After losing their 2025/26 EPL opener to newly-promoted Leeds United on Monday, David Moyes’ side got the response they needed with a deserved win.
The visitors started brightly and missed two chances when Kaoru Mitoma and Danny Welbeck both blazed over the bar from close range.
Iliman Ndiaye, who scored the club’s final goal at the Goodison Park, opened scoring with a deft finish in the first half after a brilliant cross my Manchester City loanee Jack Grealish.
Minutes after the break, James Garner collected a pass from Grealish before firing a thunderous effort from 25 yards to double Everton’s lead.
Jordan Pickford saved a penalty from Danny Welbeck later in the half, awarded after a handball by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
The Toffees closed out the match to mark their new stadium debut with a historic win over the Seagulls.
Speaking after the match, manager David Moyes praised Grealish’s impact after the on-loan Man City star delivered two assists on his home debut.
“Yeah, really pleased with Jack, he’s done lots of good things. I don’t know if he gave the ball away today, I don’t know what the stats would say but if he did it was very rare.
He also got involved with a couple of important goals for us as well. We’ve been looking for different attacking options and he gave us something a little bit different today”, Moyes said.
“It was positive for the manager as well. The manager was thinking, we all want the Jack Grealish which we all know”, he continued.
“But you don’t play for the club and you don’t play in games if you’ve not got it. Jack’s certainly got it, we need to get him to show it more. I thought today, I said to him, get at people, get your licence to go and take people on and make things happen. But also the big thing is he ball carried for us.
I don’t know if he gave the ball away too often when he did. He retained the ball for us as well which gave us a little bit more composure at different times. But his assist, especially the first one, was a little bit more of what you’re hoping from him. I hope he’s got more of them to come”, the Everton boss concluded.
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