5 Telling Stats from Everton’s Crucial Win over Manchester United

What a swing of emotions. Wednesday night was just about the deepest despair I can remember in my decade of supporting Everton, but Saturday afternoon was so much different. Everton pulled off an improbable 1-0 win over Manchester United at Goodison Park, giving them life yet again in the relegation dogfight. Hope is far from lost, especially after Watford and Burnley also both lost this weekend.

Hard Work Pays Off

One of the most notable aspects of Frank Lampard’s side on Saturday was the collective effort that every player showed. Everton quite simply out-ran and out-worked Manchester United, and clearly had a greater desire for the points than the Red Devils. Most notably, Alex Iwobi ran further and made more sprints than any other player on the pitch — in fact he set his Everton career highs in both categories during the game.

A Captain’s Performance

Seamus Coleman’s return to the side was a big boost for Everton after Jonjoe Kenny’s far-from-ideal performance against Burnley, and the Everton skipper got stuck in. No one on the pitch had more recoveries or completed dribbles than the Irishman. I also loved when Ronaldo tried to run at him with stepovers and Coleman simply stepped in and stole the ball, cool as you like.

Zero to Hero

After being almost solely responsible for Maxwell Cornet’s winner for Burnley mid-week, Ben Godfrey kept his head up and delivered one of his best performances of the season on Saturday. The fact that he picked himself up from his horrible mistake and then shut down Cristiano Ronaldo three days later is evidence of his character.

One Of Our Own

It’s difficult to understate just how important Anthony Gordon has been to this Everton side as of late- his performances have been by far and away the brightest light shining out of an otherwise nightmare of a season. The Evertonian scored his 4th Premier League goal against United; by far and away his most important of the season thus far. Goodison Park absolutely adores the young scouser, and he loves it too, having scored all of his goals at home.

Luck of the... Horses?

I’ve gone with a bit of a random one to finish off today’s 5 Stats article. This coincidence is quite funny. For some reason, Everton always win when stallions are running at the Aintree Racecourse during the Grand National!