Everton travel to Bournemouth on Tuesday evening hoping to record their first ever league win at the Vitality Stadium, knowing where the Cherries have been poor this season.
Everton had won both of their games either side of the international break in the Premier League, but the Toffees came unstuck against Newcastle United on Saturday to bring them back down to earth.
There is little time to dwell on the Magpies defeat, and David Moyes will know that a positive result against the Cherries will get them on the front foot once more.
And the Scot must target one poor part of the Cherries’ season to inflict further damage on rival boss Andoni Iraola after their weekend’s defeat to Sunderland.
David Moyes chats with Andoni Iraola.
Photo by Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images
Everton need to capitalise on Bournemouth’s lack of goalkeeper efficiency
According to FBREF, 11 teams in the Premier League have had goalkeepers concede more than the expected goals against them – with Bournemouth falling into that bracket.
But Dorde Petrovic has been extremely poor, and that is highlighted by the goals that the Bournemouth stopper has actually conceded in the current campaign.
Bournemouth have conceded 23 goals in the Premier League this season, though they’ve been expected to have 19.1 goals against them, according to the xG metric.
Finish this sentence – David Moyes should start … alongside James Garner in midfield vs Bournemouth.
Everton v Newcastle United - Premier League
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With a difference of -3.9xG, only Wolves have fared worse in the league, leaving Bournemouth’s Serbian stopper in the bottom three performing goalkeepers of the season.
That is a clear indication that David Moyes’ men need to pepper the former Chelsea man with shots, given his likelihood to concede goals that he should really be saving – even though shots have been hard to come by for main striker Thierno Barry.
Everton are at the opposite end of the goalkeeping table
Everton are in that bracket of teams who have seen their goalkeepers actually concede less than expected this season.
Jordan Pickford, despite his poor performance against Newcastle, has been the sixth-best performing stopper in the league this season.
Some interesting takeaways from Moyes’ presser…
Only Tottenham, Sunderland, Manchester City, Brighton and Crystal Palace have performed better in that regard, and it shows that Jordan Pickford is still one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the league.
Having a superb goalkeeper in comparison to a poor one can go a long way over the course of a season, and despite Bournemouth playing incredibly well, an Everton win on the south coast will see them go ahead of the Cherries, who are winless in four games.
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