5 Telling Stats from Everton’s Devastating Collapse against Burnley

It was a “must not lose” game, but a late collapse despite leading at the break meant Frank Lampard’s Everton did exactly what they couldn’t afford. The situation is now bleaker than ever, and it seems likely that the Blues will be sitting in the bottom three come Sunday night, as they must take on Manchester United at Goodison Park while Burnley travel to bottom-dwellers Norwich City.

Defeated by the Dreadful

Entering Wednesday night’s match, Burnley were dead bottom across Europe in most attacking stats, and so when Everton led 2-1 at the break, it seemed as if Richarlison’s two penalties would be enough to secure at least a point. That, obviously, proved not to be true, as Everton ultimately conceded two more against the worst attack in all of Europe.

Relief Turned Despair

Before turning Wednesday’s relegation six-pointer on its head, Burnley had failed to win a single game during which they trailed at the break, but Sean Dyche’s half-time team talk about Everton “not knowing how to win” was clearly effective enough to elicit the unprecedented.

Back-Line Blunders

Individual defensive errors were yet again Everton’s undoing, as Burnley capitalized on second-half mistakes from Jonjoe Kenny and Ben Godfrey to score two uncontested tap-ins and ultimately collect all three points. This was very representative of Everton’s season as a whole, as they have been unable to stop being their own enemies.

Confident From Twelve Yards

One of the most notable incidents during the beginning of Everton’s season occurred when Richarlison threw somewhat of a fit about not being allowed to take Everton’s penalty in the second half at the Amex Stadium, but it came to nothing when Calvert-Lewin ruthlessly dispatched into the bottom-left corner of Robert Sanchez’s net. However, DCL missed his penalty in the reverse fixture, and so Richarlison was finally given a chance from the spot at Turf Moor, and then a second, and made no mistake, making Premier League history in the process.

Lacking a Leader

It’s been 14 years since the last time Everton’s leading goal-scorer in all competitions finished with a single-digit haul, and just last season Dominic Calvert-Lewin broke the 20-goal mark, becoming just the third man to do so for Everton in the Premier League era (Yakubu once and Lukaku thrice). This season, however, the man leading this category, Andros Townsend, has already been ruled out for the rest of the season and will finish on 7 goals. If no one in the squad catches him up, I’m certain that will coincide with Everton’s first relegation in 71 years.