As Everton’s torrid form continues, their relegation chances only seem to intensify.
After all, this was a weekend in which they battled well at Old Trafford, to no avail, only to see some of their relegation rivals pick up vital points around them.
Even Burnley and Sheffield United claimed rare results, whilst Luton Town scored late to cut the gap between themselves and the Toffees to just four points.
As the season goes on and Everton continue to showcase an aversion to claiming victory, the pressure on Sean Dyche ramps up and up. He needs to cut short this run immediately, but his players are doing little to help him out.
Well, one statistic has emerged which has two pundits worried about their relegation chances…
Pundits on Everton’s relegation chances
Speaking on CBS’ The 2 Robbies podcast, both Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe were in agreement over the outstanding issue that is plaguing this fine club.
The latter would pose the first question, suggesting: ‘They’ve got enough to stay up, haven’t they?’
Earle was not so sure, replying: ‘There’s not enough goals in the team. That’s the concern.’ This sparked Mustoe to reveal the aforementioned statistic which could condemn the Toffees to the drop: ‘Apparently they should have scored 13 more than they’ve got right now. Whether you like the xG thing or not, what it’s basically saying is they’ve created quite a lot.’
‘It’s incredible,’ replied Earle. ‘That is an incredible stat. However, how do you suddenly improve what you’ve got? From the start of the season, we’re in March now and they’re still not clicking into gear.’
Well, his co-host sought to deliver a plethora of potential solutions for Dyche to consider: ‘There’s ways of doing it, and Sean Dyche doesn’t really go away from: ‘I want my back four. I want my midfield four’…
‘He could totally play James Garner holding, Amadou Onana and Doucoure as number eights both of those flying forward, you could tell your wide players McNeil and Harrison to play a little higher, you could switch your full-backs out and change Ben Godfrey for an attack-minded full-back, Mykolenko, ask him to play a little higher.
‘There is ways of turning up the attacking dials, of course, there’s risks that come with that.’
Will Everton get relegated?
Given their historic nature and ever-present top-flight status, it kind of feels like Everton has always had this air of invincibility when it came to relegation battles.
However, staring down the barrel of a third successive scrap, and perhaps their luck might be running out.
After all, as Mustoe mentioned, they are severely underperforming in the goals department.
They should have far more than the 29 Premier League goals they have actually scored, yet a lack of quality, confidence and fortune continues to keep the ball out of the net with consistency.
With the deduction to contend with too, and potentially another on the way, it seems irrelevant that their current trajectory has them finishing on 37.7 points (including six-point deduction).
After all, with no wins in 11 league games, they are falling fast, and Dyche is yet to find the answers.