Everton's 2017 in numbers: Lions at Goodison, lambs away from home

With 2017 now coming to a close, and the last of the Everton fixtures having been played, we can take a look at just how the Blues’ year has panned out, with a number of interesting statistics coming to light.

The Toffees played 40 Premier League games in 2017, winning 17 times with 10 draws and 13 losses, with 62 goals scored and 53 conceded. They are a clear thirteen points behind Liverpool in sixth, and ten clear of Burnley in eighth. This is not really surprising considering the Blues were a clear seventh to end the 2016-17 season with no real competition, while still not quite good enough to break into the top six.

Everton finished last season 10-4-5 and were 7-6-8 this season when the clock struck midnight to end the year.

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Considering how abysmally the 2017-18 season started for the Blues though, we could have easily been another dozen or points to the better here and closer to the Reds than this shows.

We went on to break this down to home and away records, and this is where some of the most marked differences lie.

Everton were in the top five sides in the Premier League in 2017 at home, and this is despite the losses at Goodison to Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal to begin the season. The Blues were not goal-shy at all either, potting 47 goals which was good enough for fourth-highest scorers.

Tottenham and Chelsea were both very good at home last season, while this season Manchester City’s amazing streak has seen just one draw at home, against Everton. Arsenal remain very strong at the Emirates too, and are fourth-best ahead of the Blues.

Manchester United and Liverpool have both picked up a number of draws at home, failing to capitalize on the advantage.

However, when we look at away records is when Everton fall sharply, to the extent that even relegation-threatened clubs like Crystal Palace and West Ham United did better than the Blues.

Everton mustered just two away wins, along with nine draws and nine losses when not in the confines of Goodison Park. A big part of the issue away has been the failure to score - the Blues only bagged 15 in 20 fixtures, while conceding 31 times.

City once again are vastly superior to all of the competition, while Chelsea did well to close out last season when they won the title. United, Spurs and Liverpool round out the top five away from home.

Across three managers, the Blues are yet to solve how to get better when not at home. Indeed, Toffees are some of the best travelers consistently selling out the away allocations and showing up in numbers so it’s not that they’re not getting any support when on the road.