5 Telling Stats from Everton’s Drab Draw at Brighton

A performance largely indicative of a season. A season of what could have been. Another season prematurely grinding to a halt.

But let’s rip off the Band-Aid and see what the numbers told us about Everton’s goalless draw at Brighton.

Where Have All the Goals Gone?

Two goals in five games

At the start of the season, this Everton team looked like a free-flowing one that was full of attacking intent.

Indeed, the 4-2 win over Brighton in the reverse fixture was proceed by wins of 4-1, 2-1, 5-2, 5-2 and 3-0.

The latest Everton regeneration has less attacking intent than a napping Chihuahua. The Blues have scored just two goals in their last five games.

Same Result, Different Route

0.31 expected goals for the Blues

But while the end result was another draw, Everton found another way to disappoint compared to last Monday’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.

Against Palace, the Blues were incredible wasteful – but they did create a lot of chance.

Here, though, the Blues created nothing and had an “expected goals” returns of just 0.31 for the chances they created. Basically, if this game was played three times, Everton might have scored once.

And, let’s face it, the Blues were lucky to escape with a point, with a wasteful Brighton side having 23 shots on our goal with an expected goals return of 1.16.

Injury woes

Carlo picks from just 12 senior players

This isn’t meant to serve as an excuse, as Everton should still be able to beat Brighton given the players they had available, but the Blues had just 12 senior players available for this tie.

And, Alex Iwobi aside, the other seven players on the bench had a combined total of two Premier League appearances (one for Niels Nkounkou, one for Joao Virginia).

Whether this is pure bad luck or a systemic issue is hard to say, but Everton’s injury record this season has been woeful. Oh, and now Yerry Mina hobbled off for good measure too.

Camped

A picture speaks a 1000 words

Everton barely broke into the Brighton half:

Champions League Dream is Over

West Ham (!?) are seven points clear of the Blues in 4^th

This Premier League season has been one of the most open in memory.

Aside from Man City legging off with the title, second down to 11 has been wide open.

But Everton have blown it.

They’ve dropped needless points against poor opposition far too frequently and even a Europa Conference League spot is looking a stretch.

Next season we could well be watching Leicester and West Ham playing in the Champions League while we’re sat at home.