View: One reason key behind Everton goal drought of Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Dominic Calvert-Lewin has undoubtedly been the star man for Everton this season after scoring 11 goals in 15 Premier League matches.
His incredible form helped to fire the Toffees to the top of the table in the early stages of the season as everything the Englishman touched turned to goals.
However, Calvert-Lewin has now gone five games without a goal in all competitions which is becoming a concern for Toffees fans.
Has the 23-year-old simply gone off the boil?
Or has he just ran out of steam after starting all of the Toffees’ Premier League games this season?
We think that there is a much simpler explanation that takes some of the blame off of the Everton striker, though he does need to improve in front of goal.
Richarlison and James Rodriguez have been absent in recent games after starting the season in a similar fashion to Calvert-Lewin.
While not scoring as many goals, the two wide men were integral to the good start that Carlo Ancelotti’s side experienced.
Both players were missing against Sheffield United in the Toffees’ last game as Calvert-Lewin failed to register a shot on target.
The wingers on this occasion were Alex Iwobi and the inexperienced Anthony Gordon.
Iwobi has played plenty of football this season albeit not as a winger as he has deputised as a wing-back.
Gordon has been waiting for a chance to shine in the Premier League and against Sheffield United, he couldn’t take it.
Gordon failed to complete a successful cross against the Blades while Iwobi only managed to complete two crosses, according to Wyscout.
It was their job to supply Calvert-Lewin and they utterly failed to do this as the England international was left frustrated.
Though, he did have a chance to score in which he spectacularly managed to miss the target all together so the wingers can’t be blamed for that.
The main reason for Calvert-Lewin’s lack of goals is this trend of not having as many shots which can be seen over the course of his goal drought.
In his last five games, Calvert-Lewin has only had eight shots and four of them were on target, this is 50% shot on target rate which isn’t poor by any stretch.
However, in his three games before that, in which he scored twice, Calvert-Lewin had 10 shots and seven of those were on target.
This is a much healthier shot on target rate and as the striker gets lots of chances it is easy to see why he scored so many goals in the early stages of the season.
It may be simple to suggest that Calvert-Lewin isn’t scoring because he is having fewer chances but the stats show that this is clearly the case.
With Richarlison and Rodriguez out, Calvert-Lewin simply isn’t receiving quality balls that he can take advantage off.
The forward’s goalscoring touch should come back when both players are back available but if it doesn’t, then it’s time to panic.
In other Everton news, a Toffees outcast may be on the move in January.