With one goal and a solitary point to show for their toils as the season entered September, Everton were threatening to replicate last season’s poor start to the season. Three-one down at home to Man United in their fourth league game and with twenty two minutes remaining, David Moyes gave Yakubu his first game time of the season and Everton salvaged a spirited draw.

Although the big Nigerian’s introduction to the proceedings in the next match failed to change the game against Newcastle, his subsequent presence in the Everton starting XI has been instrumental not just in turning the club’s season around, but also in getting the best out of Tim Cahill.

Yakubu Not Starting (GW1-GW5)

Everton
P 5 W 0, D 2, L 3, F 4, A 7, CS 0 PTS 2. Average 0.4 pts pg

Total Shots=58. Cahill 6 shots* =10% of all shots

*2 of these shots were after Yakubu appeared for 22 mins v Man Utd in GW 4.

Yakubu Starting (GW6-GW11)

Everton
P 6 W 3, D 3, L 0, F8 A 3, CS 3 PTS 12. Average 2 pts pg

Total Shots=62. Cahill 16 shots= 26% of all shots

The above stats make interesting reading. While there clearly seems to be more of a general cohesiveness to Everton’s performances all through the team with Yakubu upfront, Everton’s shots per game haven’t increased on the back of his return.

Cahill’s contribution, however, has improved significantly. He has had more than a quarter of all the team’s shots now that Yakubu is back in the side; without him, Cahill was more of a peripheral figure, averaging one shot for every ten team shots. With the Australian having such a clinical eye for goal, Yakubu’s presence up front is the ideal foil, opening up space and occupying defenders, allowing Cahill to ghost forward into dangerous areas where he is most efficient.

The following heat maps illustrate this perfectly: in Everton’s match against Aston Villa (on the left, the last league match Yakubu played no part) much of Cahill’s time was spent in the latter part of the middle third, whereas in the heat map on the right (from last weekend’s draw at Blackpool) Cahill spent far more time in the opponent’s final third and found himself in the Blackpool penalty box time and again.

Cahill is noted for his goalscoring prowess but this season in particular, he seems to be upping the ante. Already he has bagged 5 goals, just 3 less than his total for each of the past two seasons. Just as well, from David Moyes’ point of view, given that Louis Saha and Jermaine Beckford have 455 mins between them without a single goal or assist to their names.

The below average position chart from the game at Blackpool shows Saha (8) and Beckford (16) play much further forward than Yakubu (22), meaning either of them are effectively the focal point when on the pitch. The position of Cahill (17) is so close to Yakubu that he could be considered as an out-of-position forward when “The Yak” is on the field but without him, Cahill reverts to a more conventional midfielder. With Yakubu up front, Everton’s shape also suggests a more compact system, one that is less likely to get stretched and more defensively able to cope.

The final “shots” chalkboard is from the Blackpool game. Cahill had 4 goal attempts plus 1 blocked shot against Ian Holloway’s men, all before Yakubu left the field in the 61st minute. Once Yakubu was gone, replaced by Saha, Cahill didn’t have another shot at goal during the game.

For as much as Cahill has been rightly earning the Fantasy plaudits (a haul of 34 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points from his last 5 games has seen his price jump £0.2m in the last two Gameweeks) there’s no denying that the introduction of Yakubu to the proceedings is clearly, at the moment, fundamentally central to both the Aussie’s success and appeal.

With four out their next six games at Goodison Park (BOL, ARS, sun, WBA, che, WIG) Everton, with their form and personnel, will no doubt see more Fantasy investment as Moyes strives to take that unbeaten run further.