Goodison Stats: Everton’s interception king Allan shines again v Chelsea
Summer signing Allan turned in a magnificent performance as Everton secured a valuable 1-0 win against Chelsea on Saturday evening.
Many of Everton’s players looked back to their best on Saturday after performances from the Toffees dropped off in recent weeks and led to a poor run of league form.
Allan was one such player who hadn’t been at his best as his new club went three games without a win between October and November.
Allan was signed to sit in Everton’s midfield as an enforcer, winning tackles and breaking up play before distributing the ball to the attackers.
One key aspect of his game has been vital to Everton’s success this season and it returned as the Toffees won against Frank Lampard’s Chelsea.
The Brazilian’s interceptions are vital in cutting out attacking moves from the opposition and there is a trend between Allan’s successful interceptions during a game and the outcome of that match.
According to Wyscout, against Chelsea, Allan made six interceptions which is above his average rate of 3.78 interceptions per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season.
As you can see below, Allan’s reading of the game was exceptional against Chelsea and this is just one instance where he stopped what could’ve become a good chance for the opposition.
Here, Allan steps to the side of Olivier Giroud, anticipating the Frenchman’s pass to Kai Havertz after he picked up the ball from Kurt Zouma.
With Michael Keane rushing out of the defence, Havertz would be through on goal if he is found by Giroud’s flick-on.
However, Allan reads the situation perfectly and blocks the pass.
This is something the 29-year-old did on five more occasions throughout this game and the stats suggest that this is something that is vital to Everton’s success.
As Everton lost to Newcastle United and Manchester United earlier in the season, Allan only made five interceptions across both games.
He failed to break down attacking moves from these sides and that saw the Toffees concede five goals in those two games.
However, in the 1-1 draw against Burnley, Allan made a monumental seven interceptions and helped to make sure his side stayed in the game.
This is another example of Allan expertly reading the game and cutting out a key pass.
Here, Allan once again reads the forward pass from Burnley and prevents what looked like a decent attacking opportunity for the Clarets.
These interceptions are proving vital and as we saw against Leeds United, when Allan misses an interception it can have dire consequences for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Allan attempts to block the pass to eventual goalscorer Raphinha and this leaves the defence exposed before the winger fires Leeds ahead.
He misses the pass and Everton go on to lose the game, of course, this is only one example of an Allan mistake causing a goal but it highlights how important the Brazilian can be to the Toffees.
We haven’t seen many bad aspects of Allan’s game since the loss to Leeds and his performances against Burnley and Chelsea suggest that the midfielder is back to his best and doing just what Ancelotti signed him to do.
Against Chelsea, Allan won 10 defensive duels and made three clearances to go along with his previously mentioned six interceptions, as per Wyscout.
In fact, according to Wyscout, only Leeds United’s Mateusz Klich has won more defensive duels than Allan in the Premier League this season as the players have won 139 and 138 defensive duels respectively.
It is clear how important Allan is to Everton and how vital he is to the club’s success.
Toffees fans will be hoping that he can maintain the level of performance he managed against Burnley and Chelsea in the future.
In other Everton news, Kevin Campbell has delivered his verdict on Moise Kean’s future.