Chris Beesley examines the statistics behind Everton's first three games of the new Premier League season
What a difference a year makes! Despite the disappointment of a 1-0 defeat at newly promoted Leeds United in their opening fixture – the controversial late penalty that proved the difference still could not mask a lacklustre display from the visitors – Everton have subsequently bounced back to beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 and Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2.
Under David Moyes, the Blues have now won as many Premier League games in August as they had in the years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 combined given they hadn’t triumphed in the competition in the first month since their 2-0 success at the Amex Stadium under Rafael Benitez four years ago.
Last season, under Sean Dyche, August brought a hat-trick of defeats: 3-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion; 4-0 at Tottenham Hotspur and 3-2 at home to Bournemouth – despite leading 2-0 until the 87th minute – and a fourth straight loss would follow (again 3-2 after being 2-0) at Aston Villa in their first game back after the international break on September 14.
Fast forward to what Everton hope will be the start of a bright new dawn and Iliman Ndiaye has followed on from scoring the last two goals at Goodison Park by netting the historic first strike at Hill Dickinson Stadium and has subsequently registered at Molineux too with on-loan talisman Jack Grealish supplying four assists in his first two Premier League starts.
The statistics from Everton’s first three Premier League games this term compared to last season provide compelling reading but they’re also something of an eye-opener and in many ways are far more surprising than you might first imagine. An examination using Comparisonator’s MyTeam2MyTeam tool helps tell the story.
Starting with a simple calculation, goals are obviously up from two in three games to five in three games, a 150% difference from 0.67 per game to 1.67 per game but there is actually much more to it than that.
As you’d probably expect, the Blues expected goals (xG) has gone up from 1.09 to 1.26 but rather than a simple case of chalk and cheese, suggesting that Everton have gone from being cagy to free-flowing, it’s rather more nuanced.
Moyes’ men have actually achieved these increases despite having fewer shots: going from an average of 10 per game to 8.67; fewer shots on target: 3.33 to 2.67; fewer dribbles: 20.33 to 17:67; fewer successful dribbles: 10:33 to 8; less dribbling in the final third of the pitch: 15.67 to 11.67 (these all seem incredible with Grealish in the side); less ball carrying: 1.33 to 0.67; and fewer touches in the opposition box: 20 to 15.67.
So, how has the upturn come about then? It seems, because the Blues are being more efficient with the ball when they have it.
The team aren’t just passing the ball more (a 22% increase from an average of 296 passes per game to 360), but the distribution has improved with a 26% rise in successful passes from 230 to 290.
They’re different kinds of passes too as the number of crosses is down 42% from 15 to 8.67 per game but there are 11% more successful passes in the final third (from 27.67 to 30.67) and while last year they only scored 26% for what were deemed to be successful smart passes, this has gone up to 50%.
While Everton are contesting slightly fewer duels (215 to 203) and winning fewer duels (107 to 94), they’re still working hard out of possession, as modest rises in the average number of ball recoveries (76 to 79.33) and interceptions (38.67 to 40) both demonstrate.
Predecessor Dyche was known for famous for his gruelling ‘Gaffer’s Day’ during pre-season training to get his squad up to speed fitness-wise but Moyes also puts great stock in demanding his players put in a shift, as the Blues’ physical numbers show.
Everton's physical statistics from the first three Premier League games of last season and this season
Everton's physical statistics from the first three Premier League games of last season and this season
Three games into last season, Everton were averaging a combined 98.959km per game, but this has gone up almost 6% to 104.783km per game. These figures have also been achieved despite a 31% reduction in sprinting distance from 2802m per game to 1921m and a 25% fall in high acceleration count from 296 to 222, suggesting that the Blues are now striking a better balance when it comes to combining their running with using their heads and implementing more game intelligence.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.