5 Telling Stats from Everton’s 2-0 Defeat at Chelsea

Sometimes you’ve got to say that the other team was just better.

And here, Chelsea were.

That’s not to say we can’t beat them on our day. It just shows that this is still an Everton in rebuilding mode and far from Carlo’s perfect vision.

But what did the numbers tell us about the performance?

28^th September 2015

The last time Everton won a game they were losing at half-time

At half-time, I honestly thought Everton had played pretty well for most of the first half.

The trouble was, I knew we wouldn’t turn it around.

Why?

Because we never do.

We might nick a draw here and there, but generally if we’re down at the break, we lose.

Everton’s last win after they were losing at half-time came away to West Brom five-and-a-half years ago.

Since then we’ve completed five seasons, sacked three managers and spent over £500 million on players.

Deserved Defeat

Expected Goals: 2.57 v 0:27

The truth of the matter is that, despite a promising opening 30 minutes or so from the Everton mints, Chelsea were quite clearly the better side here.

Everton rarely came close to Thomas Tuchel’s side, which is reflected in the expected goals output of just 0.27. That’s not just down to Everton, though. Chelsea, it must be said, were excellent in both defence and attack.

understat

Pickford

3 big chances saved

Aside from that penalty, Jordan Pickford was spectacular in goal once again tonight, preventing three potential goal scoring opportunities.

Obviously the biggest qualm with Pickford is his penchant for the erratic and all-too-frequent mistakes.

And when you’re making one good save and then one or two howlers, that’s a problem.

Fortunately for Pickford, his save credit rating is good at the moment having kept three clean sheets on the bounce ahead of this one.

10 world-class saves per error is a ratio Blues will be happy to accept.

Imbalanced

43% of Everton’s attack down the left

Even with a player actually playing at right-wing (Iwobi) for the majority of this match, most of Everton’s attacking play came down the left (43% left vs 31.5% right).

And this left bias has been a feature of almost every Everton game this season.

It’s unsurprising given the attacking output of Lucas Digne and Richarlison, but the truth is we don’t have any real threat down the wing on the right – whether that be from full-back or right wing.

Between Digne and Richarlison have secured a combined six goals and nine assists this season. On the other side, Seamus Coleman, Mason Holgate and Alex Iwobi have summoned two goals and three assists between them.

When the summer comes, a reboot of Everton’s right side should undoubtedly be a priority.

Europa League

Blues drop off the top four chase

While Everton still have a chance of reaching the top four (we are only four points behind with a game in hand after all), it’s fair to say that this defeat was a significant blow to our hopes.

This is one of the most open seasons in memory, and so the Blues need to dust ourselves off quickly and refocus. The season is not over. We’re still in pole position to reach the Europa League for the first time in five years, while the FA Cup is potentially just 270 minutes away from being in our possession.

COYB!