Everton 1-0 Ipswich Town: result and report

Report

Everton beat Ipswich Town 1-0, and the balance of chances says they deserved it. The concern is that they made a game they largely owned much tighter than it needed to be.

Thierno Barry scored the only goal on 11 minutes, set up by James Tarkowski. Everton never added the second goal that would have settled it, so the early lead had to carry them the rest of the way.

The next decisive moment came on 67 minutes, when Abdul Fatawu Issahaku was sent off for a second yellow card. Ipswich Town played the rest of normal time with ten men. Everton still could not put the game away.

Everton's chances: made, then missed

Everton's edge came from the quality of their chances rather than their accuracy. They created five big chances to Ipswich Town's one and finished with the better xG, 1.59 to 1.29. They also had 16 key passes to nine, while their pressure was consistently higher across the match.

Four of those five big chances were missed, though. Everton had 12 shots but put only two on target. That gap between chances created and chances taken explains why a side with this much of the threat was still protecting a single goal late on.

Ipswich Town: more dangerous than the scoreline suggests

Ipswich Town created less but worked the goalkeeper more. They had four shots on target to Everton's two, and Everton made four saves while Ipswich Town needed to make only one.

That is the one real counter-signal. An xG of 1.29 means Ipswich Town were still in the contest despite producing just one big chance.