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It’ll go down as a comfortable win on paper, but Everton’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace was anything but.
Only Jordan Pickford’s right foot was able to prevent the Blues going one down after conceding a penalty, but in the end it was Marco Silva’s substitutes that won it for Everton, with Ademola Lookman teeing up Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the 87th minute, before Cenk Tosun stormed through on goal to guarantee the three points a couple of minutes later.
Here we’ll take a look at five stats that give us more insight into the performance.
Walcott Quiet
Has the fewest touches of any outfield Blue for third consecutive match
Theo Walcott seems a nice guy. But does his amicability hold him back on the pitch?
Theo is certainly more reserved on the the grittier side of the game and this is exemplified by his defensive statistics. This season he averages just 1.1 tackles per match (10th in Everton’s squad), 0.6 interceptions (13th) and 0.3 fouls (16th) – not that giving away fouls is necessarily a good thing.
Walcott was especially quiet against Palace with only Jordan Pickford touching the ball less for the Blues. Indeed, it was the third consecutive match in which Walcott has had the fewest touches of the ball among all of our outfield players. How much of that though has been due to not having a striker who can hold up the ball and bring in other players?
The winger does pop up with big moments even on his off days though, and he could – and should – have put the Blues one-up after racing through on goal moments after Palace missed their penalty.
Nevertheless, it’s great to have plenty of options out wide with the likes of Theo, Richarlison, Bernard and Lookman – a collective wide threat that’s not been seen on Everton’s books since the 80s.
Richarlison Wasted Up Top?
Just one shot from Richarlison again
Moving into a central striking role seems to be limiting Richarlison’s attacking threat.
The Brazilian had just one shot against Palace, following one shot (which he scored) against Leicester City in the same role. To put this into context, when playing out wide he had five shots against Fulham and four against Arsenal.
The 21-year-olds biggest threat is driving at players from wide positions and with Cenk Tosun again on the scoresheet, it’s surely time to revert back to Tosun up top and allow Richarlison to do what he’s best at out wide.
Sigurdsson Key
Most shots and key passes AGAIN
If there were any doubts about Gylfi Sigurdsson last season, they’ve now been long forgotten with the Icelandic playmaker pulling all the strings for Everton this campaign in his favoured attacking midfield role.
For the third game in a row, Sigurdsson had the most shots and key passes of any Blues’ player, five and three respectively.
Good Luck Yerry Mina
Keane and Zouma rock solid again
Despite spending £27 million on the Colombian, it’s hard to see Yerry Mina get in the side right now.
Michael Keane and Kurt Zouma are looking rock solid at the back, with the Blues conceding just once in their last three games with the pair. After a shaky debut season, Keane is looking excellent this campaign and won an outstanding 10 headers against Palace.
Mina is going to have to be patient to get a chance for Everton and he’ll then have to adapt to English football at lightening speed if the 6’5 centre-back wants to get his name on the team sheet on a regular basis.
Left is the Threat
Digne dominant again with most touches
Lucas Digne is proving to be a revelation at left-back for Everton – putting in performances reminiscent of Leighton Baines in his pomp.
Every game that Digne has completed, he’s always been in the top two for most touches from an Everton player, with the Frenchman usually topping the charts. It was no different against Palace, with the left-back touching the ball a remarkable 101 times – 20 more than anyone else on the pitch.
There’s no doubt that the left is the threat for Everton, with Digne linking up excellently with Bernard and Richarlison so far.