Everton have started well under Rafa Benitez, remaining unbeaten after three games and sitting sixth in the table, above the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Leicester.
The appointment of Benitez came under scrutiny due to his history linked with Merseyside rivals Liverpool, but the performances of new signing Demarai Gray have muted doubts over the Spaniard's appointment after impressive wins against Brighton and Southampton.
Gray signed for Everton from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer for a fee of £1.5million, along with the arrivals of Andros Townsend, Asmir Begovic, Andy Lonergan and Salmon Rondon on free transfers.
Benitez has an interesting situation to deal with regarding James Rodriguez, who failed to secure a transfer away from the club this summer despite scoring six goals and registering four assists in 23 appearances last season.
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So, what would Everton's 2021/22 season look like with the signings they have made?
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2021 editor to update the database with the correct teams in the 2021/22 Premier League season, as well as placing a transfer embargo on all sides in the division so that their squads remained the same throughout the simulation.
Let's take a look at the best XI put together by Football Manager 2021 at the end of the 2021/22 simulated season, based on performances, statistics and other metrics.
Everton's full best XI: Pickford; Kenny, Holgate, Keane, Digne; Davies, Allan, Rodriguez, Iwobi, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin.
Despite his exclusion from the squad so far, James Rodriguez featured in Everton's best XI of the 2021/22 season after forcing his way back into Benitez's side and contributing seven goals and eight assists in just 34 Premier League appearances.
Benitez also opted for Jonjoe Kenny ahead of Seamus Coleman at full-back, with Kenny providing eight assists in 28 appearances for the club as he claimed the right-back position as his own with Coleman deputising for the young Englishman.
Richarlison finished the 2021/22 season as the club's top scorer with 12 goals, whilst Alex Iwobi registered the most assists with 11.
Calvert-Lewin averaged the highest match rating out of any player at the club, with a performance rating of 7.56 across all competitions as he scored 11 goals in the Premier League.
As for new signings Gray and Townsend, both had impressive debut seasons under Benitez contributing a combined total of 17 goal contributions between them.
So how did Everton perform in the Premier League in our simulated season with their new signings in the squad?
Everton's simulated Premier League 2021/22 season
This is how the Premier League table looked at the end of the 2021/22 season.
Everton finished the 2021/22 season in seventh in the Premier League, recording a tally of 58 points from their 38 games, as they qualified for the Europa Conference League.
Despite finishing the season a point worse off compared to last season, the Blues improved their league position from 10th to seventh under Benitez and qualified for European competition for the first time since the 2017/18 season.
Everton scored 13 goals more than they did last season, suggesting the addition of Gray and Townsend improved Everton's attacking threat whilst also leaving the side slightly more vulnerable in defence, conceding four goals more than in the 2020/21 season.
The simulation suggests that further improvements are needed to the Everton squad if they are to continue to progress up the table and challenge for Europa League and Champions League qualification positions.
How do you think Everton will perform this season? Let us know in the comments.
