Preston North End have lost both of their Championship matches this season, 2-1 at Bolton Wanderers and 3-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, and this week they sold the forward who scored 31 goals for them in three seasons. Everton have played once and won, beating Crystal Palace 2-0.
The Wolves defeat set the tone. Fer Lopez scored twice, the first an eighth-minute finish after he was allowed to spin on halfway and run unchecked, and only Daniel Iversen in the Preston goal kept the margin where it was. Adam Armstrong got the other, converting a return pass from Raul Jimenez moments after coming on. It was Wolves' first away league win in 16 months, and they were the better side in every area.
Milutin Osmajic's move to Genoa takes away a forward who played 111 games and scored 31 goals at Deepdale, though his three seasons in England were dogged by controversy: an eight-match ban in October 2024 for biting the Blackburn Rovers defender Owen Beck, a nine-match ban last November following a charge of racially abusing a Burnley midfielder, and a red card for violent conduct in only his fourth Championship game back from it. He started on the opening day at Bolton and was not involved at all against Wolves.
Everton come with the opposite problem, which is how much to change. David Moyes named the second-youngest starting XI of his second spell at the club against Palace, trusting Harrison Armstrong and the new signing Hayden Hackney in midfield, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored the opener. Moyes wants a right-back before the window shuts, so the squad he brings to Lancashire is still a work in progress.