Declan Walsh

Wed 10 February 2021 16:30, UK

Everton have the chance to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2015/16 when they take on Tottenham at Goodison Park on Wednesday night.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men have been in great form this season with the Blues currently sitting seventh in the Premier League standings.

The same cannot be said about Spurs, however, as Jose Mourinho’s side are below the Toffees in eighth with three defeats in their last four league fixtures.

Tottenham bounced back to form on Sunday when they beat struggling West Brom in North London but that shouldn’t dishearten Everton as they aim to progress in the FA Cup.

Spurs have shown a lot of weaknesses this season and one of those weaknesses, that could very much be exploited by Everton, is their tendency to give away fouls in dangerous positions.

According to stats by WyScout, Tottenham have conceded most fouls per 90 mins in the Premier League this season [11.71] while midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has conceded more fouls [41] than any other player in the top-flight.

As per the Premier League website, Mourinho’s men have also conceded five penalties, which places them joint-sixth with relegation-threatened Fulham in the league.

Below are images of the fouls Spurs have given away in their last two Premier League matches when they have lost 1-0 to Chelsea and beaten West Brom 2-0.

As you can see, the fouls circled in blue are in positions deemed to be dangerous and potentially exploited by the attacking teams.

Even though West Brom are 19th, they still won two free-kicks in very dangerous areas while Chelsea were handed two dangerous free-kicks in the final third, as well as a penalty.

Ancelotti will no doubt be licking his lips over those numbers and graphics.

Stats by Wyscout show that Everton have scored the most goals from headers [10] in the Premier League this season while their prowess at set-pieces is also evident in the fact they’ve scored the joint-most from corners [7].

Ancelotti’s men also have the best success-rate at aerial duels [54.4%] and striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin ranks third in Premier League for aerial duels contested [205]. Calvert-Lewin has also socred more headers [5] than any other player in England’s top-flight. Michael Keane and Yerry Mina rank joint-eighth with two headers scored each.

In terms of success-rate, Lucas Digne is the best in the Everton squad and 11th in the league [69.23%], while centre-back Keane is 12th [68.63%].

In Everton’s last match, they showed how dangerous they can be from set-pieces outside of the penalty area with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Digne are standing over the ball.

Ancelotti’s men drew 3-3 at Old Trafford against Manchester United and their ability to take advantage from deep free-kicks was plain to see in the latter stages.

Below, you can see Sigurdsson setting up to take a free-kick on the touchline, in line with the edge of the penalty area.

His cross finds a team-mate at the back post and the ball is headed back across into the six-yard box towards Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin.

Unfortuantely, DCL is offside and David De Gea saves the attempt but it just shows how the Blues are able to create chances for themselves.

Next up is a free-kick from Digne that is extremely far out.

Digne’s ball into the box from deep is headed on by Keane.

Calvert-Lewin pounces on the ball and sticks it in the back of the net to earn a 3-3 draw for Everton at Old Trafford.

Based on the numbers, Spurs are likely to offer up a number of chances similar to the ones shown above.

Everton have set-piece kings in Digne and Sigurdsson while they can also dominate the aerial game through the likes of Calvert-Lewin, Keane and Mina.

We’d be shocked if Ancelotti’s side doesn’t play for set-pieces on Wednesday night because that seems like a very good way to break down a Mourinho defence at the moment.

In other Everton news, Kevin Campbell has predicted the result for Wednesday night’s match.