Everton’s lack of goals proved to be their glaringly obvious Achilles heel ahead of the World Cup break but just why has their attack lacked so much potency? The simple answer would be the absence through injury of number nine Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the majority of the campaign to date.
Picking up what manager Frank Lampard described as a “freak injury” on the eve of Everton’s opening fixture against Chelsea, the centre-forward did not feature in any of his side’s first nine Premier League games and in his six subsequent appearances, he completed 90 minutes just once, in the goalless stalemate at Fulham. Fitness concerns continue over the 25-year-old, who was forced off in the Blues’ last home game against Leicester City and subsequently missed the double header at Bournemouth with Lampard revealing the England international is now nursing no fewer than three separate injuries (knee, shoulder and hamstring).
However, Everton, who were without a recognised striker for four of their first five Premier League fixtures ( Salomon Rondon started against Nottingham Forest) before Neal Maupay made his debut in the Merseyside Derby, haven’t just lacked a cutting edge, they have also failed to provide a sufficient supply line to their strikers. Often, Maupay’s time up front has been a thankless task as he has ploughed a lonely furrow with the team not playing to his strengths so it’s probably no surprised that the £15million signing from Brighton & Hove Albion has scored just once in 11 matches so far.
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Only bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers (eight) have scored fewer goals in the Premier League than Everton (on 11 alongside Nottingham Forest) so far this season and data compiled by Comparisonator shows that Lampard’s side just aren’t doing enough in the final third. It's to be hoped that the Blues worked hard on rectifying this during their recent time 'Down Under' where they drew a blank against Scottish champions Celtic ahead of a penalty shoot-out victory before putting five past Western Sydney Wanderers as are ranked 18 th in the division for the number of shots they’re getting in on goal with an average of just 9.13 per game and are likely to find Premier League opponents to be considerably tougher to break down than sides from Australia's so-called 'A-League.'
The team were the fewest shots per game are actually Bournemouth (7.73) who put seven goals past Everton in two games last week with the Blues letting them get no fewer than 15 efforts in on goal – almost double their average – and a number that was third best in the Premier League that weekend. The only other team averaging fewer shots than Everton are Nottingham Forest on 9.07 and for context, the highest in the top flight are Manchester City (16.29); Liverpool (15.86) and Arsenal (14.43).
Lampard’s men fare only slightly better when it comes to shots on target where they’re ranked 16 th with 3.67. This pales in comparison to neighbours Liverpool who are registering 6.57 ahead of Manchester City (6.43) and Tottenham Hotspur (6.33).
Everton’s 41.2 attacking actions per game places them 16 th in the Premier League with Manchester City first on 56, followed by Liverpool (54.36) and Arsenal 52.93 and when it comes to successful attacking actions, the Blues creep up to 14 th with 19.53 with Arsenal top on 26.43 then Manchester City (26.36) and Liverpool (24.71). Everton just aren’t getting enough touches in the box to cause a sufficient threat with their average of 17.2 placing them 17 th in the Premier League, way behind the likes of top three ranked Manchester City (32.79); Liverpool (32.43) and Newcastle United (29.93).
One area the Blues do make the top half in is successful dribbles with their 13.2 per game placing them 10 th but this is a more opaque category with Crystal Palace leading with 19.21 followed by Arsenal (17.21) and then bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers (16.6). Overall, the parameters leave Everton 15 th when it comes to expected goals with 1.21 per game. The reality though is that in reality, they’re joint 18 th in the goals for category with just 0.73 per games scored so there is plenty of hard work required both during the break and when they return, not only to create more in attack but take the chances that come their way.
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.
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