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It’s back! The long, hot summer is over. Say goodbye to the days where you pretended to be excited about the Gold Cup and the made-up preseason tournaments. Today, it’s real football that actually matters.
But this is Everton and Stoke, so there is a good chance it’s going to be absolute crap. Romelu Lukaku is gone from the Toffees. And Marko Arnautovic has left the Potters. What remains are a pair of clubs that will need to look elsewhere for their collective creative sparks.
Expectations are higher than ever before on Merseyside. Whereas Stoke will be looking to leap into the top half of the table after what was likely considered a mediocre 2016/17 campaign. Strap in for the first 0-0 draw of the season!
Match Details
Date and start time: Saturday, August 12 at 7 a.m. PST / 10 p.m. EST / 3 p.m. BST
Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England
Capacity: 40,157
Weather: 61°F/16°C, mostly cloudy, 4% chance of rain, 15 mph winds
How to Watch/Listen
TV: CNBC - United States; none - United Kingdom
Radio: Everton Match Centre, Talksport 2 Radio UK
Live stream: NBC Sports Live, evertontv, fuboTV
Information from LiveSoccerTV.com
Lineups
Everton
Starting XI - Pickford, Calvert-Lewin, Williams, Keane, Jagielka, Baines; Schneiderlin, Gueye, Klaassen; Rooney, Sandro Ramirez
Bench - Stekelenburg, Mirallas, Martina, Besic, Davies, Holgate and Lookman
Stoke City
Starting XI - Butland; Zouma, Shawcross, Cameron; Diouf, Fletcher, Allen, Pieters; Shaqiri, Bojan; Berahino.
Bench - Grant; Johnson, Tymon, Choupo-Moting, Adam, Crouch, Ramadan