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How Unlucky is Everton?

In terms of ball possession when the game is tied, Everton is 4th in the English Premier League. But somehow, they’re in last place in the table, with zero wins in six games. What’s going on?

Week Opponent Mins GF GA ShF ShA PassF PassA Result
1 Blackburn 13.9 0 1 0 2 55 21 L
2 Wolves 57.7 1 0 13 3 250 103 D
3 Aston Villa 9.4 0 1 0 1 63 15 L
4 Man Utd 46.8 1 1 13 7 178 165 D
5 Newcastle 45.4 0 1 4 9 148 163 L
6 Fulham 95.0 0 0 16 11 411 345 D
Total 268.1 2 4 46 33 1105 812
Per 90 0.67 1.34 15.44 11.08 371 273
Ratio 33.3 58.2 57.6

In five of their six games thus far, Everton has, for the most part, controlled the play when the game was tied, which has given them a huge lead over their opponents in the shots department. With average luck, they'd probably be 5th in the table today. But they gave up two goals on three shots against Blackburn and Aston Villa, which made it fairly difficult for them to come away with many points in those two games. At the same time, they dominated Wolves, Man United and Fulham and didn't win any of those games.

Make no mistake – Everton is a good team. You’re welcome to think that Tim Howard will keep giving up goals at this rate, but I’d bet against it. At the same time, their next three games are against tough opponents, and it isn’t until October 30 that they get an opportunity to absolutely dominate a team (Stoke). Despite their dominance, they could very easily find themselves going into that game 0-4-5.

Update:

Here are the league-wide possession numbers through Saturday's games. Everton isn't quite as good as Chelsea, but it's close:

Team Pos%
Arsenal 63.2
Chelsea 60.0
Man City 59.6
Man Utd 59.1
Everton 57.6
Aston Villa 54.8
Spurs 54.6
Liverpool 52.2
Birmingham 51.7
Newcastle 50.2
Blackpool 50.0
Fulham 49.9
West Ham 48.4
Wigan 48.0
West Brom 44.0
Wolverhampton 42.6
Bolton 42.1
Sunderland 39.8
Blackburn 35.0
Stoke 31.9
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