Everton had half their usual shots and Arsenal kept a clean sheet

Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 at the Emirates while Everton's attack barely got going, a result that looks tighter on the scoreboard than in the shot count.

Ezri Konsa gave Arsenal the lead in the seventh minute, with Viktor Gyökeres credited for the assist, and Gabriel Magalhães doubled it in the 68th. The 2-0 scoreline is simple enough, but the figures behind it are not ordinary for either side. Arsenal shot far more than usual, and Everton shot far less.

Arsenal had 58% of the ball, below their season average of 61.4%, so this was not a win built on keeping possession. Possession simply means the share of time a side has the ball. What Arsenal did with it was unusual: 20 shots against an average of 11.9, and 12 of those came from inside the penalty area.

Twenty shots is well above the 13.3 that a side averages in this league, and the quality of those chances was also above normal. Expected goals, a rough score for how good each chance was, came to 1.82 for Arsenal against their usual 1.51. Only four of the 20 were on target, so the goals came from a handful of better chances rather than a flood of efforts.

Everton's story runs the other way. They had seven shots, half their usual 14 and well under the league's 13.3, and only three of them were on target. Their expected goals were 0.47 against a usual 1.09, which says the few chances they created were thin as well as scarce. They conceded twice, against a usual one a match, and J. Pickford made two saves and was rated 6.8.

The individual figures show who did the work. Gabriel Magalhães had two shots, both on target, scored the second goal, and was rated 8.5. Ben White supplied the assist and three key passes, the kind that lead directly to a shot, and was rated 7.9. For Everton, H. Armstrong won eight duels and was rated 6.6, a steady afternoon for a side that struggled to get forward.

Arsenal scored two where they usually score 1.6 and conceded none where they usually concede 0.7 at home. The match total of two goals sits below the league average of 2.9, which makes this a quieter game on the scoreboard than the shot count suggests. For a side that has been shooting this much, the lack of a bigger scoreline is the less common story.

Arsenal are second in the table with 18 points from seven matches, while Everton are ninth on 10, with four of their seven games ending level.

Player of the matchGabriel Magalhães1 goal8.5

E. Konsa1 goal8.4

B. White1 assist7.9

R. Calafiori4 duels won7.6