Coventry had the ball, but Everton had the far better chances

Everton beat Coventry 3-1 on a day when the visitors had more of the ball, but the home side created much the better chances.

Coventry had more of the ball at Hill Dickinson Stadium than they usually do, and it still ended in defeat. They held 54% possession against a season average of 37.8%, and took 15 shots. Their expected goals figure, a measure of chance quality where each shot is judged by how often chances like it tend to go in, reached 1.42. That is close to double what they usually reach, so the visitors were not short of openings. Possession, after all, only tells us who had the ball, not who did the most with it.

Everton, by contrast, had 46% of the ball, a touch under their usual 47.3%, so there is nothing unusual about how much they kept. Their chances were a different story. Their expected goals came to 2.24, roughly double the 1.18 they average at home, and twelve of their fifteen shots came from inside the penalty area. Everton did not have more of the ball than usual, but they had far better chances than usual, and that is what decided the afternoon.

Coventry had gone ahead in the 52nd minute through Yann Gboho, and Everton's answer came quickly. Thierno Barry scored at 56, set up by Vitaliy Mykolenko, and struck again at 61. He finished with a rating of 9.2, the best on either side, and his six shots, two of them on target, made him the most dangerous man on the pitch. His two goals turned a one-goal deficit into a lead, and the rest of the match was played in its shadow.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added a third in the 81st minute, with Barry again involved as the provider. Four goals in the match is more than the 2.7 that an average Premier League game produces, so this was a livelier afternoon than most by the league's own measure. Coventry conceded three, against an average of 1.8 across their matches so far this season. Their defensive problem was not only the goals they allowed but the quality of the chances behind them.

Coventry usually concede chances worth 1.36, and Everton's were far above that level. Jordan Pickford made three saves in the Everton goal, though the visitors' chances were not simply stopped by the goalkeeper. They were a mix of openings that came from crosses, rebounds and clearances, and the home side took more of the good ones. Coventry's Gboho was the only visiting scorer, and he was replaced in the 73rd minute, when the match was already moving away from them.

In the table, Everton are seventh after nine matches, while Coventry sit sixteenth. Coventry have won three of their nine and lost six, scoring nine goals and conceding sixteen, so their record is among the weakest in the division for goals conceded. Everton's win keeps them in the upper half, with a home record that has been better than their away form. Coventry, meanwhile, have yet to put together a run that would lift them out of the bottom third.

Everton have 13 points from nine matches, and Coventry have 9.

Player of the matchT. Barry2 goals · 1 assist9.2

K. Dewsbury-Hall1 goal8.0

V. Mykolenko1 assist7.6

Y. Gboho1 goal7.4