Part 5 - English Premier League: Figures and Statistics
Everton are the next team in focus as David Moyes’s men picked up their first win of the season at the weekend as they defeated Birmingham City at the Saint Andrew’s Stadium. It was quite a welcoming three points for the Toffees
who have been short of confidence and strikers as their start to the season has been woeful to say the least. Everton began the season with a defeat at Blackburn in a match which took place at the Ewood Park. Everton’s main problem has been the incredible
amount of injuries that their front line has sustained. The likes of Louis Saha and Yakubu have either been suffering from a lack of fitness or form.
Such circumstances have made it difficult for Moyes to get his team to a good start before their match against Birmingham City, Everton were in the bottom three zone of the Premier League season. However, it is highly unlikely
that the Merseyside blues will fight a relegation battle this season because they do have some extremely talented players in their side. Everton’s most prominent result so far in the league came against last year’s runner’s up Manchester United. After going
down by three goals to one at the Goodison Park, Everton rallied back in the last three minutes of the match to bring the score line to three all.
Everton’s main man this season has been their midfielder, Tim Cahill. Due to the shortage of striking options that David Moyes’s team has been facing recently, Cahill has been used as a makeshift striker at times. His tendency
to time his jumps and direct his headers effectively has made the Australian into a useful front man at times. Cahill was on target again for Everton against Birmingham City and Moyes will be looking to his dynamic midfielder for consistent contributions in
the goal scoring department as the season enters into its busiest period after the international break comes to a close in the middle of October.
Traditionally, the Toffees have been a good clean footballing side. By clean one means that they have not had many disciplinary problems in the league, this characteristic has once again come to the fore in the 2010-2011 season
as Everton have just picked up six yellow cards in their first seven games of the English Premier League season. This means that they currently are the top runners for this season’s fair play awards.
A big problem for Everton as discussed earlier has been their striking prowess. A long time has passed since a recognized striker for the Toffees netted a goal from open play. Last league goal scored by an Everton striker came
on the 17th of April, 2010 and back then it was Yakubu who scored against Blackburn Rovers.
Conventionally Everton have always been strong at their home stadium i.e. the Goodison Park. Lately their away form has become the cause of their downfall; Everton’s first goal against Birmingham City on Saturday evening was their
first away from under David Moyes since that goal at an away stadium since that goal by Yakubu in April, 2010.
Recently, Fulham’s manager, Mark Hughes has become a subject of a heated debate in footballing circles. The ex-Manchester City manager has been called a “drawer” as he has been dropping too many points because his team have been
drawing too many of their games. Last fourteen of Hughes’s eighteen matches as a Premier League team manager have ended in a draw; surely such an occurrence cannot be termed as a coincidence.
Fulham’s draw against West Ham saw Clint Dempsey score with only one of his five efforts to hit the target. It was a sad display of inaccurate shooting by the American midfielder whereas Danny Murphy’s superb pass completion rate
against the Hammers say him jump to fourth in total passes completed chart in the English Premier League. Only Paul Scholes of Manchester United, John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien of Chelsea better than ex-Liverpool man, whose passing range has gained more
precision with age.
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