The prelims to Palace v Forest saw Oliver Glasner and Daniel Munoz get a warm reception when returning to Selhurst Park. Forest’s better performances have come away from home, including their sole win, at Aston Villa. That’s very Glasner, as Palace fans would recognise.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Terry Devlin, Marko Milovanovic and Odin Bailey arrive as Pompey subs, with Devlin getting involved almost immediately and getting booked for a hacking challenge on Ryan Manning.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Zak Swanson has the latest of growing stack of chances for Portsmouth. Saints are back in numbers, with Jack Stephens leading the defensive effort, throwing in the blocks.

Up in the Scottish Premiership, by the way, Celtic are leading 2-0 at Motherwell, Benjamin Nygren getting the second, after Carmelo Duran got the first.

That would take Celtic top.

Mary Waltz gets in touch: “Good morning John. It’s pitch dark in California. But for this Everton fan it been sunny so far . Until the news of a possible sell of the team. Pessimistic thoughts fill the air. Hedge fund group buying the club on a sea of debt. “ Belt tightening “ follows. Young talent sold off. Replaced with bargain basement has-beens. The life of a Toffee fan. Sigh.”

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Eckert has seen enough and made a sub, sacrificing Leo Scienza makes way for Kuryu Matsuki. It’s not long until the new arrival takes a whack from a Swanson tackle.

On Everton, David Moyes was asked this week if he’d still have agreed to be manager if he had know the Friedkin group were not long-term owners: ““No, because I love this club. They could have sold me it at any time and I’d still have taken it. But it’s for Evertonians that I am more disappointed. They have been through so many difficult periods and the last thing they really wanted to hear was this.”

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Talking of discipline, Azaz smashes into a tackle that in the Premier League, with VAR, that would surely be given a second look. Ebou Adams was the recipient again. Portsmouth are coming into this, and look capable of finding a way back. Meghoma’s shot is followed by an effort from Segecic.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Now Larin is booked for Saints, having asked for an opponent to be booked. Discipline is an issue perhaps.

The big news for Everton this week is the club being up for sale.

Moyes’s squad was left short on numbers and a centre-forward on deadline day after Beto’s sale to Fiorentina and the collapse of ­Folarin Balogun’s mooted £40m move from Monaco. Everton have plans to address those weaknesses in January but they could be affected by a potential takeover.

TFG believed it could work around Uefa regulations on multi-club ownership should Everton and Roma qualify for the same European competition. That is not the case and, with Uefa enforcing rules on such ownership structures strictly, TFG faces having to put one club in a blind trust to avoid any sanctions.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Azaz, supplier of the Saints goal, almost supplies another, as Scienza escapes and Nic Schmid made a fine save. Azaz is such a talent, one of those players who is cut above in the Championship.

Back underway

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Adrian Segecic came on at half-time, John Mousinho looking to the creative player to unpick the lock on Saints, who seem likely to sit deeper. Tonda Eckert, rather surprisingly, has made no changes.

AnhTuan Nguyen Huynh gets in touch: “The game might be nothing new in the tactical term, but it takes on heightened significance as fans and analysts recalculate how past Premier League tables and fortunes were shaped by City’s rule breaches. Stepping out of Liverpool’s long shadow, the Toffees have to rise above themselves and seize their moment. Will they? This is eighth v 10th. The Toffees have to be counted on the pitch, while the club navigates turbulent waters off the pitch. This is one of Everton’s season-defining moments.”

No pressure, the Ev.

Reminder of the Premier League table

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Bragg, the local lad, just 21, lost the ball then lost his cool. Portsmouth, almost immediately, begin to dominate possession and push forward.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Scienza is fouled after a long, snaking run forward. The ref plays advantage then, mistakenly, gets in the path of the ball.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Pompey are struggling to put much attacking football together, their best hope may lie in Southampton’s rather dithery defence.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Saints asked to do some defending as Cameron Bragg gets a booking, for a tactical foul and then James Bree gets clear a ball headed to the back post. Next, James Ward-Prowse has to knock the ball behind.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Leo Scienza is the creative threat for Saints, and when he’s given space down the left, Portsmouth begin to struggle. One hell of a melee occurs when Larin barges into the box and then Downes fights Pompey’s Adams for the ball.

Southampton 1-0 Portsmouth

Saints have not lost the last 31 games where they have scored first. Eckert has done a remarkable job there, with many happy to make remarks on it.

Southampton 0-0 Portsmouth

“One team in Hampshire,” they’re singing. Presumably both sets of fans.

Southampton 0-0 Portsmouth

It’s been Portsmouth who have played some of the better football, only for Saints to lift the pressure, with Flynn Downes and James Ward-Prowse to the fore. They’re looking for Cyle Larin at all times. Jayden Meghoma lashes a shot wide for Pompey when he had better options in the middle.

Our weekend previews of the Premier League matches today:

In Sergej Jakirovic and David Moyes, Hull City and Everton boast two of the more “pragmatic” managers in the Premier League. Renowned for their safety-first defensive styles, both teams are happy to surrender possession, rank among the top flight’s lowest sides in pass completion rates, and rely on rapid transitions and set pieces for a major share of their total expected goals. A game featuring two defences that pride themselves on their obduracy may well be settled by a well-delivered dead ball into a packed penalty area. While it may not be aesthetically pleasing, expect to see the massed ranks of defenders on both sides spending much of Sunday afternoon bracing themselves for rearguard action while peering towards the sky. The last time these sides met in the Premier League, Everton ran out easy 4-0 winners. A decade on, the aerial traffic is unlikely to be quite so one-way.

All eyes will be on Oliver Glasner as he returns to Selhurst Park with Nottingham Forest on an afternoon that will be emotionally charged for both sets of supporters and in the boardroom. The Crystal Palace chair, Steve Parish, sought to defuse tensions last week when he urged fans to “buck the trend” by welcoming the manager who led the south London club to the first three major trophies in their history in the space of 12 months. “I would be mortified if he gets anything other than the roof blown off,” said Parish. But given the strength of feeling towards Forest and their owner, Evangelos Marinakis – who is still blamed by some for Palace’s demotion to the Conference League at the expense of Forest last season – many have still not forgiven Glasner for joining their rivals and could still make their feelings known when the Austrian takes his seat in the dugout before kick-off.

Southampton 0-0 Portsmouth

It’s mostly Saints as the game is in its early stages. The fans are supplying plenty of noise and colour.

Last season saw the first league fixtures between the south coast clubs since the 2011-12 season, Nigel Adkins and all that, of a derby played since 1899. They finished 0-0 and 1-1.

As you might expect, it’s one hell of a noise at St Mary’s. This is big. It begins with boos as soon as Pompey touch the ball. A Southampton fan of my acquaintance – a pal – drove all the way south from Old Trafford last night to be there. This is huge, not just for these reasons.