The Unbeaten Start Doing The Heavy Lifting at Everton

Everton's unbeaten opening six games was a positive in some aspects, but it papered over the cracks, as we've mentioned before.

The Toffees had a relatively easy start, but they still found wins hard to come by. They've now won just twice in the Premier League from eight games, drawing too many and losing when coming up against the bigger sides such as Arsenal and Chelsea. 

An unbeaten run looks good when you say it out loud, but breaking it down deeper, it wasn't that impressive for Everton. 

Some of the draws were disappointing, the wins few and far between, and then the losses came when the opposition got tougher. 

It begs the question: have Everton actually played well this season? Was the unbeaten run an achievement? Let's break all of the Premier League games down so far.

Probably our best game of the season. A comfortable afternoon. It got fans excited about what was to come. There was defensive frailties throughout, and we were perhaps lucky not to concede, but there wasn’t a moment in that second half when fans thought we were going to throw it away. 

The start of the unbeaten run, and a deserved three points. 

A game Everton should have lost, really. Everton had a few chances, but Bournemouth had plenty too and dominated possession. The Cherries had 62% possession in the second half and were 1-0 up, and Everton could produce just four shots, with one of those being Beto trying his luck from about 30 yards.

Everton somehow found an equaliser. Never-say-die attitude and all that, but a draw that could so easily have been a loss.

Another game that could so easily have been a defeat. A freak Ainsley Maitland-Niles goal somehow secured a point for Everton, who had produced very little in terms of big chances throughout.

In fairness, Everton did limit United’s chance creation. Maybe Everton did deserve a draw, but either way, it was a huge stroke of luck to secure the point.

Everton deserved something from this game. They had more chances than Tottenham and came out in the second half and showed an attacking threat.

They weren’t clinical enough, but the chances were there. Everton defended really well, too. 

This game, in fairness, is one you look at that deserves to be part of an unbeaten run. Should have won, really.

A weird game. Everton should have scored more, but they were also fortunate not to concede. Everton needed to kill the game off after Ipswich’s red card, but failed to do so, and that made it a nervy ending to the match.

Ipswich could so have easily have nicked a draw there, and against 10 men, that would have been unacceptable for Everton. 

Everton didn’t deserve to lose, but it wasn’t a convincing victory, especially if that final 15 minutes.

Everton’s defensive solidity went out of the window in this game. Everton produced just 15 shots with an xG of 1.68, and despite that, all the talk was about missed chances. 

Everton should have created more, and they were all over the place at the back. 

It wasn’t a good display, but hard to suggest they deserved to lose. A draw was probably fair, but not a strong performance.

The first sides that Everton have played who are currently above them in the Premier League table. Every other game was against sides below us in the table right now. 

Everton showed up in the first half against Chelsea, but that’s all we saw from either of these two games. 

There was nothing against Arsenal, and from the first five minutes, it was a comfortable afternoon for the Gunners. 

In conclusion, there has only been a few games where you can say Everton deserved to win, or they produced a solid performance for 90 minutes. 

Only one of the wins was truly convincing, and some of the draws were fortunate. Everton are yet to produce a good result against a really strong side. 

Despite being in the top half of the Premier League table and having a previous unbeaten run, it's been a poor season. The position in the league and the six games without a defeat at the start of the campaign certainly don't paint the full picture.