Our team-by-team guide to the new Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season continues with this preview of Everton.
The Toffees are another club under new management, with the departure of Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid precipitating Rafael Benitez’s arrival.
You can read more about the incoming Spaniard in our dedicated Scout Report.
Despite many lines from Ancelotti about a European charge last season, Everton only just scraped a top-half finish by finishing in 10th.
Having gone goal-crazy in the early part of 2020/21, Everton’s attacking output slowed down significantly though the Toffees were relatively sticky in defence.
Don’t forget that you can find official Opta team and player information on the Blues and every other Premier League side in our Premium Members Area, to help with your planning for Gameweek 1.
Benitez’ Blues
Everton’s league position was followed closely by their ranks in defensive statistics:
Everton defensive stats | Total | Rank v other PL teams | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goals conceded | 48 | 10th | |||
Shots conceded | 505 | 13th | |||
Shots in the box conceded | 312 | 12th | |||
Shots on target conceded | 161 | 11th | |||
Big chances conceded | 72 | 10th= | |||
Expected goals conceded (xGC) | 50.7 | 11th |
The Toffees kept a respectable 12 clean sheets under Ancelotti last season, the joint-fifth best record in the division.
But eight of those arrived in the Toffees’ final 15 fixtures and no Premier League club kept more shut-outs from Gameweek 25 onwards, so Benitez inherits a defence in decent shape.
A miserly backline is something we might expect under the new Everton boss. His all-time Premier League record saw the Spaniard’s sides concede at a clip of less than a goal per game, while averaging 1.53 goals per match.
“We will try to have a team that has balance. Balance means attack and defend, and be sure that you can compete against anyone.” – Rafa Benitez
3 years, 2 months ago
tinkering
henderson
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