Abdoulaye Doucoure signed for Everton from Watford in the summer transfer window of 2020. He had had a great start to the season under new manager Rafa Benitez, after a not so great season under former coach Carlo Ancelloti. Doucoure has become a regular starter for Everton under Rafa Benitez in this 2021/22 Premier League season and has already scored two goals and provided four assists. In this post, we will have a look at Doucoure’s stats for Everton in the 2021/22 Premier League season.
Everton, on the whole, have had a good start to the season, as they’ve accumulated 14 points from the first seven games and sit at 5th in the league standings, level on points with third-placed Manchester city, fourth-placed Manchester United and 6th place Brighton. They are only one point behind second-placed Liverpool and two behind league leaders Chelsea at the moment.
When Carlo Ancelotti left Everton for Real Madrid at the end of the 20-21 season, it looked like Everton’s project and progress would come to a halt. But, after the arrival of Benitez along with signings like Demarai Gray and Andros Townsend, it looks like the Toffees are in a pretty fine place at the moment. Doucoure has been a big part of their recent success, being involved in his role as a defensive midfielder as well as in the goals through his assists or goals. The Frenchman has a real presence on the pitch and knows how to use his strength in the best possible way.
In attack, Doucoure has been one of the most successful players in the league, having a total of six goal contributions in seven games with two goals and four assists. Only four players have total goal contributions more than him, while only Paul Pogba has more assists than the 28-year-old at this point in the Premier League. He has been linking up very well with new signings Gray and Townsend, also providing assists to both.
The Everton midfielder has been involved in the fourth most defensive duels in the entire league, which is only less than three players including his teammate Allan. he has been a force going forward as well as in protecting his defence. Benitez has used him in each and every game and it looks like he is one of the first names on the teamsheet for the Toffees these days.
Doucoure’s pass map for the seven games he has played shows that he is involved in every move in buildup and attack. He has shown his passing skills to help his team get out of trouble in defence and has also shown his creativity going forward already providing four assists. It can be said that he has been a complete box-to-box midfielder, which every manager loves to have on his team.
The above viz shows the attacking and creativity stats for the 28-year-old. The black line in the middle marks the average value of the stat in the entire Premier League. For example, in terms of xG per 90, Doucoure has been better than 67% of the players in the division. The viz clearly shows that he has been better than most players in almost all of the attacking stats above other than a couple. HE has scored two goals, given four assists, producing an overall xG of 0.91 has been very accurate with his shots s well.
The above viz shows the stats for defensive actions performed by the midfielder in the league. He has been a very important figure in this Everton side and has been doing his job of shielding the back four very well. He has been involved in a lot of defensive and aerial duels and has a good winning rate of duels as well. He has made more recoveries per 90 minutes than 90% of the players and has proven to be a very good signing for the Toffees.
Benitez will hope that Doucoure keeps up his form in the coming week and help him and his side in their challenge for a top-four finish in the league this season. The French midfielder has been contributing to goals and in defence as well, and has been a complete player for them early in the season.
