David Moyes on the touchline
Credit: Imago
Josh Edwards
Sat 21 February 2026 9:10, UK
There is a worrying trend setting in at Everton that David Moyes must fix.
With Everton sitting in eighth, which may be enough to secure a spot for European football next season, there feels very little reason for pessimism.
But the truth is that there are several issues emerging consistently for the Toffees this season, and the majority of them are in regard to their attacking identity and style of play.
Not only are Everton among the lowest scorers in the Premier League, but they are also fourth-bottom for a stat that demonstrates how little threat they are posing this season.
Goals Everton have scored in the Premier League this season.
Credit: Imago
Everton rank below West Ham for key Premier League metric
As a wise man once said, goals win you games in the Premier League, but those goals will never arrive if you aren’t having shots.
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And while the Toffees are taking shots, there is a worrying lack of them that are hitting the target so far this season, and if that contunies into Monday night’s clash against Man United, they will suffer a defeat.
Everton average just 3.3 shots on target per 90, which is the fourth-worst in the entire Premier League for that metric.
Even West Ham, who are third-bottom, average 0.2 more than the Merseysiders each game, with Sunderland, Wolves and Burnley all below them.
However, it will be even more of a concern to Moyes because this is the lowest average from any Everton side since the 2017-18 season, when they averaged 3.2 shots on target per 90.
Everton home ground Hill Dickinson Stadium with stat of Premier League home wins in 2025-26 season
Credit: Imago
What is even more concerning is that the Toffees have scored just 29 goals from the 47 big chances they have created this season.
How do Everton address this issue?
The easy way of looking at it is blaming Thierno Barry and Beto, and while part of that holds value, the reality is that the Toffees aren’t creating enough shooting opportunities.
They rank at the bottom of the Premier League for the number of sequences involving 10 or more passes, and also among the worst for the average number of passes per sequence.
Everton’s style of play is very restrictive when it comes to creating opportunities to get a shot off, and that is down to Moyes to address.
With the likes of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Iliman Ndiaye, the Toffees have the quality to score goals, but lack the identity needed to create the chances to achieve that.
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