There was plenty of frustration from an Everton point of view again on Monday as they went down 2-1 to Wolves.
The defeat was the Blues third in as many matches and their first run of three consecutive Premier League losses for 12 months.
A glance at the Premier League table suggests things are still relatively okay. The Toffees sit tenth and are just three points from the top six, predominantly thanks to a fast start to the campaign that saw them lose just one of their opening seven league matches.
However, the evidence suggests that some of their success in those initial weeks was in part thanks to the quality of the opposition they’ve faced, being handed a run of more winnable games in comparison to other sides in the division.
As highlighted above, based on the FiveThirtyEight forecasting index, the average predicted end of season positions for Everton’s combined opponents so far is 12.6.
According to this, across the whole division only opponents from Monday night Wolves have had an easier opening sequence of matches.
This should raise some alarm for Rafael Benitez, particularly given how form has tailed off so dramatically recently across fixtures that, on paper at least, should have been winnable.
In the coming weeks, the Spaniard will now be tasked with trying to snap Everton’s losing run against teams expected to be predominantly competing at the top end of the Premier League table this year.
Their up and coming tricky run of matches starts this Sunday as they host Tottenham who will no doubt be buoyed by the arrival of new boss Antonio Conte.
Following that, the Toffees travel to champions Manchester City, and then Brentford before welcoming rivals Liverpool and Arsenal in quick succession at Goodison Park.
The hope will be this daunting run of matches can help give the Everton squad an added incentive to rise to the occasion and start to again pick up positive results.
Yet, should they continue in a fashion similar to recent weeks, then all the signals will be pointing to a long old season ahead for Benitez’s Blues.
