Credit: Imago

Daniel Lewis

Mon 13 April 2026 18:10, UK

Beto was on the scoresheet as Everton earned a battling 2-2 draw away at fellow European chasers Brentford on Saturday.

The 28-year-old registered for the seventh time this season in the Premier League with his glancing header 26 minutes into the match at Gtech Community Stadium.

Igor Thiago scored twice, either side of Beto’s goal, but Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was on hand to snatch a last-gasp point for the Toffees.

Beto was impressive all-round, but it certainly would not have come as a surprise to Brentford co-owner Matthew Benham.

Indeed, the British businessman was full of praise – sort of – for Beto around a month before Everton’s trip to West London.

What did Matthew Benham say about Beto?

Beto has a reputation for missing plenty of chances, with his return of seven goals in 32 top-flight outings this term – 13 of those starts – slightly underwhelming.

That is not to too heavily criticise the Guinea-Bissau international, who is always a nuisance up top when called upon by David Moyes.

And Benham, a man who made his millions out of the betting industry and spotting things that others can’t, can certainly see that in Beto.

Speaking at a conference earlier this year, Benham said: “There is an awful amount of randomness in finishing.

“For example, if you show me two players at a similar level and they both scored 15 goals last season but one of them had twice the number of chances, I want the guy who’s had twice the number of chances. 

“When we played Everton at our place late last year, Beto missed three one-on-ones. Any decent model worth its salt would give Beto an upgrade.

“Any player who manages to make three one-on-ones in a single game, even if he actually happens to miss them.

“And typically, with a one-on-one, you’re like 50/50 to score. The fact that he’s got three one-on-ones, he’s got to get an upgrade on any decent model.

“Obviously, the man in the street would slate him, but actually receiving is more important than finishing.”

Benham could not be more correct. Beto does indeed miss many chances, but he also gets himself in those dangerous positions in which he can miss chances.

As a manager will always tell you, you would worry more about a striker if they are not getting chances at all.

Beto generated an expected goals value of 0.57 against Brentford and scored once, which shows that he actually outperformed his xG.

And as the underlying data shows, Beto is definitely improving in terms of taking more of his chances in front of goal.

What does the data say about Beto’s finishing?

As per Sofascore, Beto missed 17 big chances in 35 Premier League games last season, scoring 12 times.

This campaign, meanwhile, he has missed just nine big chances from the same number of Premier League games, albeit he has scored only seven times.

Given it’s the exact same sample size, we can safely conclude that Beto is missing fewer chances but is also scoring fewer goals.

There can be multiple factors behind this, but ultimately the forward’s overall output is down on his second campaign on Merseyside.

Beto will be disappointed if he does not match his tally from last season at the very least across the remainder of 2025-26, though as he showed against Benham’s Brentford, he is always a threat.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Goodison Park.