Substitute Lukas Nmecha beat Jordan Pickford from the penalty spot in the 84th minute as Leeds joined fellow promoted side Sunderland in making a winning start to 2025-26

Andy: A work in progress. A really good performance, perhaps deserving a slice of luck with the goal. Looked solid against a rather blunt Everton attack. Definitely needs a little more magic up front. But these are matches to take points from, Leeds must be on the right side of results in matches like this if they are to stay in the division.

Leeds were promoted as Championship winners last season, while Everton finished 13th in the Premier League. Each club added eight new faces to their respective roster since last season as Leeds looks to maintain status in England’s top flight and Everton looks to at a minimum to crack the Top 10.

With Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitalii Mykolenko out of contention, Moyes was forced to play James Garner at left-back. Most of the first half was played in Everton’s half, with the Blues having only one touch in the opposition penalty area for the first 45 minutes.

A cross from Dan James was met by Piroe but O’Brien scrambled it away. The first quarter of the match had passed with Everton not getting a touch in the Leeds box. That finally changes in the 29th minute when Alcaraz broke into the box but the Leeds keeper was there to snuff out the chance.

Putting everything on the penalty would be glossing over a poor performance from Everton as we didn’t deserve to win and probably didn’t deserve to get anything out of the game. The only team trying to win that game was Leeds and they got lucky with ...

Referee Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot when James Tarkowski blocked Anton Stach’s strike with his arm. Lukas Nmecha converted to hand Leeds victory, with Everton furious as VAR upheld the call. “I’m really disappointed and unless you cut the boys hand off, I don’t know where he goes,” David Moyes said.