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