Everything below comes from our own match records: every shot with its chance quality, every corner with its taker.
The score and the number that disagrees with it
Bournemouth led from the 41st minute, held the lead until the 90th, and finished with the better of every team number. Possession 59% to 41%, shots 17 to 13, big chances 6 to 3, expected goals 2.16 to 1.84. The number that disagrees with all of that belongs to one Everton striker. Thierno Barry produced 1.48 xG in his 70 minutes, the highest figure by any player on either side, and scored none of it. Alex Scott put Bournemouth ahead, James Tarkowski turned in the equaliser from a corner with the game's final chance.
The chances that decided it
| Minute | Player | Chance quality | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Barry | 0.82 xG | Petrović saved |
| 41 | Scott | 0.16 xG | Goal, struck at 0.84 xGOT |
| 49 | Barry | 0.54 xG | Petrović saved |
| 76 | Kluivert | 0.40 xG, from a corner | Pickford saved |
| 79 to 80 | Evanilson | 0.58 xG across three chances | Two saved, one missed |
| 90 | Tarkowski | 0.10 xG, from a corner | Goal |
The best chance of the match was not a goal. Barry's 20th minute shot carried a chance quality that converts 82 times in 100. The goal that stood for 49 minutes came from a chance worth 0.16, struck well enough to register 0.84 on target. Finishing decided this game in both directions.
Who took the set pieces
| Corners | Takers | |
|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | 10 | Tavernier 6, Scott 4 |
| Everton | 7 | Garner 3, Dewsbury-Hall 2, Hackney 2 |
Garner was booked on 59 and substituted on 62, and the split above is the season's pattern in miniature. In the cup at Preston he took 3 of Everton's 5. In gameweek 1 he played 11 minutes and Dewsbury-Hall took 3 of 4. On Saturday he took 3 of 7 before the hour. When Garner starts, the corners are his until he leaves the pitch, then Dewsbury-Hall and Hackney split the duty.
The equaliser came from a corner delivered after Garner had gone off, and no assist was credited on the goal. Nobody attempted a direct free kick and there was no penalty. One more set piece number worth holding: Bournemouth generated 0.99 xG from set plays and scored from none of them, Everton generated 0.25 and equalised from it.
The finishing gap
| Player | xG | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Barry | 1.48 | 0 |
| Kluivert | 0.61 | 0 |
| Evanilson | 0.58 | 0, three big chances missed |
| Rayan | 0.40 on five shots | 0 |
| Scott | 0.16 | 1 |
Both keepers earned their afternoon. Petrović faced 1.41 xG on target and conceded once, roughly 0.4 goals prevented, with both of Barry's big chances among his five saves. Pickford faced 1.90 on target and conceded once, roughly 0.9 goals prevented, the biggest of his four saves the Kluivert header from a corner on 76.
Three players worth your attention
Alex Scott, £6.0m, owned by 1.6%. Twelve points: a goal, three bonus, two for defensive contribution off 15 actions, and a clean sheet point he kept by being substituted on 87, three minutes before his team conceded. He also took 4 corners and created 2 chances. Two gameweeks in, he has 14 points and shares Bournemouth's set piece duty with Tavernier.
James Tarkowski, £6.0m, owned by 8.9%. Twelve points from a goal, two bonus and the defensive contribution, reached at exactly the 10 actions a defender needs. He has 18 points in two gameweeks at the price of a mid-table midfielder, and Everton's corner volume is what feeds him.
James Hill, £5.5m, owned by 0.9%. The quietest big number of the day: 0.74 expected assists from centre half, built on the deliveries behind Evanilson's three late chances, plus a defensive contribution point off 12 actions. Nothing converted, so he walked away with 4 points and no headline.
The defensive contribution ledger
Cleared: Scott with 15 actions against the midfielder threshold of 12, Hill with 12, Tarkowski with 10 against the defender threshold of 10. Missed: Tavernier finished on 11 of 12, one tackle short of two points on a day he took six corners. Dewsbury-Hall finished on 10 of 12. Garner reached 10 in 62 minutes, a 14.5 per 90 pace, and was substituted around the hour for the second start running.
What to do about it
The buy is Barry, £5.5m, 3.8% owned. Two gameweeks have produced 1.93 xG, and across his three matches in all competitions our records have him at 4.55 xG in 231 minutes. His ownership moved from 2.9% to 3.8% within a day of this match, so the price rise is a matter of time.
The hold is Tarkowski. The goal threat is corner-fed and the corners keep coming: Everton have taken 11 in two gameweeks.
The trap is Garner, £6.0m, 0.1% owned. He takes the corners, Tarkowski scores them. The hour-mark substitutions then cap his defensive contribution at the exact moment the count matters.
What would make this wrong
Two league matches is a thin base for any of it. Barry's gap has a second reading: he put 0.88 xG on target, so Saturday says as much about Petrović as about him, and an attack that runs 1.48 of its 1.84 xG through one player is one knock away from having no case at all. On the other side of the ball, Everton conceded 2.16 xG and six big chances, and a defence giving that up weekly will not keep feeding Tarkowski clean sheet points to go with the corners.