Will Dodds

Thu 17 December 2020 20:10, UK

Everton and their boss Carlo Ancelotti have bounced back in the last week with two wins after a tough run of results in the Premier League.

The Toffees made an incredible start to the season with four consecutive wins but won just one of their following seven league matches.

However, they bounced back against Chelsea last Saturday and followed that up with an equally impressed victory against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday.

What was notable about both victories was that the Toffees spent much of each match without the ball, enjoying 28% possession against Chelsea and 39% against Leicester City (via WhoScored).

With Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure in the side, Ancelotti’s team are not particularly set up for dominating the ball, averaging 49.6% across the season as a whole (via WhoScored). However, they took a notable step back in that statistic during both matches and kept two clean sheets nonetheless.

Part of the reason for the change is the Italian opting to select four centre-backs across his backline, in the absence of Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne. This has made the team more solid at the back (neither Chelsea nor Leicester generated more than 0.9 expected goals against them according to FBRef), but it gives them fewer options comfortable on the ball higher up the pitch.

Given the quality of the opposition they have just played and the need for more defensive solidity, the switch by Ancelotti has worked and he should be commended for that. However, a system that involves four centre-backs is unlikely to result in regular success against some of the Premier League’s more defensive sides.

Across the two matches, Everton were out-shot on both occasions and they failed to create enough clear cut opportunities against Leeds United and Burnley in recent weeks. For now, they have found something that works, but Ancelotti must keep tweaking in order to find the optimal balance.