Everton’s all-time Premier League goal difference hits zero after Brighton loss

Everton’s all-time Premier League goal difference has dropped to zero for the first time in over 10 years.

The four goals shipped at home to Brighton on Tuesday night took the Toffees’ total number conceded to 1,505 in 1,170 matches, with Demerai Gray’s late penalty being their 1,505th goal scored.

Everton’s goal difference remained largely negative in the 1990s and 2000s before David Moyes led them into positive territory with a 3-1 win at home to Southampton on September 29, 2012.

Moyes’ successor Roberto Martinez continued the upward trend until his departure in 2016, around the time that current owner Farhad Moshiri bought his first shares in the club.

Everton’s goal difference hovered around +40 under the next four permanent managers – Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva and Carlo Ancelotti – but has since declined under Rafael Benitez and latest incumbent Frank Lampard.

Everton are the only one of the Premier League’s six ever-present clubs without a positive goal difference.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham have all scored far more goals than they have conceded, with Spurs’ goal difference the lowest of the five, at +315.

Everton on the slide

Lampard kept Everton in the league at the end of last season, but he has largely been unable to arrest the slide that started under his predecessor Benitez.

Since he took over as manager, the Toffees have scored 33 goals and conceded 55 in 36 matches, a difference of -22.

Lampard’s side have found the net at a slower rate than they did under Benitez, whose reign ended with a record of 24 goals for and 34 against in 19 league games.

Only Mike Walker, who managed just six wins from his 31 league matches in charge in 1994, has a worse goal difference per match than Lampard among Everton managers in the Premier League era.

There are several parallels between Walker’s reign and Lampard’s.

Both took the manager’s job halfway through a season with the club in a difficult position, and both engineered a great escape.

While Lampard ensured survival with a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace in his final home match of last season, Walker was at the helm when Everton beat Wimbledon at Goodison Park by the same scoreline on the final day in 1993-94.

The matches were eerily similar in the way they played out. Everton went 2-0 down in the first half on both occasions, before mounting a fightback. The crucial winners came in the final 10 minutes, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin the hero for Lampard and Graham Stuart stepping up for Walker.

Moyes a reminder of how things used to be

Everton will travel to West Ham on January 21 in need of a result, but with former manager Moyes in the opposing dugout.

The Toffees finished in the top eight in all but two of Moyes’ 11 full seasons in charge, accumulating a goal difference of +65 along the way.

Only Joe Royle and Martinez saw their sides outscore their opponents at a faster rate, albeit for a shorter period.

Royle was manager for 97 league games and Martinez for 113, while Moyes remained at the helm for 427 matches.