Everton 1-0 Ipswich: Barry’s early goal and a red card

Everton 1-0 Ipswich Town was settled in the eleventh minute and then survived for another eighty. Thierno Barry finished from the centre of the box into the bottom corner, assisted by James Tarkowski, and that was the last time either side put the ball in the net at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.

It was Everton’s first win since the opening weekend, after three consecutive draws, and it came from an afternoon of remarkable inefficiency: twenty-one shots, two of them on target. Ipswich, with ten men for the last twenty-three minutes, had thirteen attempts and four on target and could not score.

Barry, and then nothing

The goal was simple enough. Tarkowski, a centre-back, supplied it; Barry finished from the centre of the box. Everton had an early lead for the second time this season and, unlike against Manchester United on matchday three, they did not give it back.

What followed was a strange match. Everton kept shooting and kept missing the target: nineteen of their twenty-one attempts did not force a save. Konstantinos Tzolakis was not the busy goalkeeper the shot count suggests, making one save all afternoon.

Fatawu goes, on two yellows

Abdul Fatawu was booked for a bad foul on thirty-five minutes and sent off for a second yellow on sixty-seven. Ipswich played the last twenty-three minutes and six added on a man short, chasing a goal, and the numbers say they were closer to it than the home side: four shots on target to Everton’s two, and Jordan Pickford making four saves to Tzolakis’s one.

Vitalii Mykolenko was booked on forty-two, Zian Flemming in the second minute of stoppage time and Harrison Armstrong in the sixth. Stuart Attwell refereed, with 52,008 in the ground.

• Thierno Barry (Everton), 11 minutes: from the centre of the box, assisted by James Tarkowski
• Abdul Fatawu (Ipswich Town), 67 minutes: sent off for a second yellow card
• Shots: Everton 21 (2 on target), Ipswich Town 13 (4 on target)
• Possession: Everton 51.7%, Ipswich Town 48.3%
• Saves: Jordan Pickford 4, Konstantinos Tzolakis 1

Everton are unbeaten and have scored six goals

Everton have nine points from five matches: two wins, three draws, no defeats. They have scored six goals and conceded three, which is the fewest conceded by anyone outside the top two, and it is the reason they sit where they do without having scored more than twice in any match. Their season so far is 2-0, 1-1, 2-2, 0-0 and 1-0.

Ipswich have six points from five and a goal difference of minus four. Their season is all extremes: they beat Sunderland 2-1, lost 5-2 at Manchester United, lost 2-0 at home to Liverpool, won 3-2 at Crystal Palace and lost this one by a single goal with ten men. Two wins, no draws, three defeats, and nothing in between.

Twenty-one shots and two on target will be the line that stays with Everton. They won anyway, which is what an unbeaten start usually looks like from the inside.

Three goals conceded in five matches

The reason Everton have not lost is at the other end of the pitch. Three goals conceded in five matches is a total only Manchester City have bettered, and City have played a game fewer. Everton have kept two clean sheets, conceded once against Bournemouth and twice against Manchester United, and that is the entire list.

Pickford’s four saves here were more than he has had to make in most weeks, and they came almost entirely in the last half hour, against ten men. Ipswich, a goal down and a man short, still finished with twice as many shots on target as the side that won.

For Ipswich the sending-off is the part that will be argued about, but their record says something else. Played five, won two, lost three, drawn none. No side in the division has produced fewer level results: every match they play has a winner, and in three of them it has been the other team.

Ipswich have now failed to score in two of their five matches, and both of those were defeats. Everton have scored in four of theirs, never more than twice, and have not been beaten in any of them.

Simulate the rest of the Premier League season

Everton have not lost and have not scored more than twice. Ipswich have won two and lost three with nothing in between. On the Premier League simulator you can take the real table forward and see which of those patterns holds.

• Play the remaining 33 rounds from the real table and the real fixture list
• Run any fixture through the AI match simulator, in tactical view or in the physics arena
• Open the line-up builder for both clubs before you kick off a simulation
• Turn an arena simulation into a vertical video ready to share

"Everton had twenty-one shots and hit the target twice. They still won, and they still have not lost this season."