Thierno Barry (£5.7m) delivered his biggest ever Fantasy Premier League (FPL) haul on Friday night to help Everton climb up to fifth.

Two goals and an assist meant he finished on 16 points – and he had an overnight price rise thrown into the bargain, ensuring a satisfying evening for his owners.

This was, in fact, only the second time he’s hit a double-digit return in FPL.

Here are our Scout Notes from the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

BARRY FRONT AND CENTRE

Above: Everton players sorted by shots and big chances (BC) in Gameweek 10

It was the usual mix of the sublime and the ridiculous from Barry.

He verges on being a comical figure up top, with the ball bobbling off him and chances going begging, but he keeps plugging away, getting himself into really good positions, and, with a steady frequency, finding the net.

A blow-by-blow account of his Gameweek 10 performance sums him up.

First, a very decent chance that he took too long over, the eventual cross-shot being blocked. Then, some penalty-box pinball in which the ball ricocheted off his chest and went sideways. For his first goal, he nodded a header from six yards straight at Carl Rushworth (£4.5m), but the proximity to goal meant that the Coventry ‘keeper could only deflect the ball in with his bicep. Then, the Barry goal to end all Barry goals, the ball somehow creeping in via thigh and, probably, hand:

Wait for the Tyrique George cameo. 😮‍💨

Barry putting us ahead on Friday night! 🔵 https://t.co/4O9iwn92Wk

— Everton (@Everton) November 7, 2026

Having assisted Kiernan Dewsbury–Hall (£6.6m) for Everton’s third strike, Barry then nearly sealed his hat-trick, missing with a late header and almost getting on the end of a couple of crosses.

He’s missed more big chances (16) than any other Premier League player has received in total. He’s underachieving on the xG front by 1.28 goals. 83.3% of his shots haven’t gone in.

But the sheer volume of opportunities coming his way means that even a profligate finisher like him is going to eventually get some joy.

Much of Everton’s play is designed to tee him up; look at his ‘big chance’ share compared to other forwards:

Above: Forwards sorted by the share of their teams’ big chances they get when on the field (min. 5 apps)

The question now is whether the ship has, temporarily, sailed. His goals this season have come against the three newly promoted sides and two of the division’s weakest defences in Crystal Palace and Newcastle United.

A (mostly) trickier run now follows:

That’s something we’ll be looking at further over the international break.

“Fabulous. I just mentioned in there, I said, ‘Haaland’s worried about him now catching him!’

“He’s settled down a bit more. Got his language, his understanding, his communications much better as well. And obviously, he’s worked hard to try to get himself into those positions to score.

“He can sort of smile at me now and look at me and say, ‘You know, I told you so’. And that’s good. I think that’s what any manager wants. You want the players to prove you… not wrong, because we always liked him, but we want him to keep scoring. He’s missed quite a few chances, but tonight he got important goals for us and look, it doesn’t matter how they go in. The strikers will tell you that as well. He’s becoming an important piece for us.” – David Moyes on Thierno Barry

DEWSBURY-HALL FINALLY GETS HIS REWARD

We waxed lyrical over Dewsbury-Hall’s display on Monday, a performance that went unrewarded.

Tangible FPL returns finally arrived on Friday, when his shot beat Rushworth at the near post.

 “I’m really, really enjoying it. I’ve got a really good hybrid role in this team, where the gaffer is giving me the freedom to pop up all over the pitch. I feel like I’m getting a really good relationship with Thierno now. I’m buzzing that he keeps on getting the goals because he deserves it so much. He’s come back from the summer like a different player, and all credit to him because without him tonight – to kick-started us into the gear – we probably don’t win the game.” – Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, via BBC Sport

Again, the upcoming fixture run doesn’t scream ‘must buy’.

But a 90-minute man in a side not playing in Europe may come into his own when rotation is raging elsewhere in the league around Christmas time.

The midfielder is now second among all Premier League players for shots and chances created combined (47) this term – but if there is a stick to beat him with, it’s that he doesn’t even rank in the top 30 players for expected goal involvement (xGI, 3.17). Lots of low-xG shots from the edge of the area or just outside partly explain that.

COVENTRY OUT OF LUCK

The xG graphic above and the respective managers’ comments below betray that this was not a straightforward victory for Everton.

“The win was the perfect way [to mark David Moyes’ record-equalling number of games in charge of Everton], certainly. Our performance wasn’t probably as good as it’s been but sometimes you have to have to take it that way and that’s what we’ve done tonight. We got a result, dug it out, went a goal behind, and came back well. So, pleased with that.” – David Moyes

“A lot of good stuff in the way we played, which makes it really disappointing to lose the game, but I’m seeing progression in what we’re doing. I think we played well.” – Frank Lampard 

The Sky Blues were arguably the better team for an hour, meriting their 1-0 lead when summer signing Yann Gboho (£5.5m) dug out a tidy finish. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto (£4.8m), who has performed well since his promotion to the starting XI, had the best chance of the game before that.

It wasn’t just the balance of play that suggests Coventry were unfortunate. The Sky Blues had a couple of penalty shouts (one for a ponytail tug from James Tarkowski (£6.2m)), while even Barry himself didn’t deny that he hadn’t handled the ball in for his second goal.

“A goal is a goal!” – Thierno Barry, when asked if Everton’s second goal had gone in off his hand

So, another creditable performance from Coventry, who have played pretty well in five of their last six games (the home loss to Fulham being the exception).

RUDONI AT THE HEART OF COVENTRY’S PLAY AGAIN

There was no return for Jack Rudoni (£4.9m) but he again caught the eye.

The penalty-taking ’10’ teed up that first-half big chance for Sakamoto, and no one in a Coventry shirt registered more shots (three) or chances created (three).

He’s really hitting his stride now after an injury-affected start to the campaign. In fact, he’s risen to just outside the top 10 FPL midfielders for xGI.

It’s not a bad couple of home games up next, either:

THOMAS INJURY LATEST

Like the reviewer who critiqued Spinal Tap’s Shark Sandwich, Lampard kept the word count down when giving us an update on Bobby Thomas (£4.0m).

The centre-half had just missed a second successive match due to a calf problem.

But there was a positive-sounding brief from his manager after full-time.

“Yeah.” – Frank Lampard, when asked if he expected Bobby Thomas and Frank Onyeka back after the international break

DEFCON ROUND-UP

No DefCon joy for Tarkowski, who ended on his lowest contributions total (four) of 2026/27.

Two of the other members of Everton’s backline did manage it, however. Jarrad Branthwaite (£5.5m) is now level with Tarkowski for DefCon points (10), while Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.6m) is up to six – a very decent tally for a full-back. The Ukrainian also assisted Barry’s first goal.

Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m), meanwhile, has impressively reached his DefCon threshold in six of his eight starts. Shame he’s not £4.0m!