Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton have been resurgent this season. At the time of writing, they are placed in the Europa League spots with a game or two in hand relative to the teams above them in the table.

Their summer signings including the likes of James Rodríguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucouré have been firing on all cylinders, while old faces such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Lucas Digne have also been exceptional.

Protecting their own net, though, has been a bit of a challenge for the Toffees. No other Premier League side has played fewer games than Everton at the time of writing, yet they only have the eighth-best record in the league when it comes to goals conceded.

While their defence has not been particularly solid (they are at the very centre of the table when it comes to xGA), their goalkeepers have been suspect fairly often. Jordan Pickford ranks joint-second in the Premier League’s errors leading to goals list, while both he and Robin Olsen have conceded more than their respective PSxG (Post-Shot expected Goals – essentially expected Goals based on how likely the keeper is to save the shot) tallies.

In fact, such poor goalkeeping has already cost Everton seven points, besides making many matches a lot spicier than they needed to be. While such performances between the sticks are particularly enjoyable to the Liverpool faithful and, at times, even the neutrals, Goodison Park-frequenters would certainly prefer to iron them out.

Pickford making an error leading to a goal against Brighton & Hove Albion. Although Everton won the match 5-2 ultimately, they had to sweat a lot more than they would have wanted to following the concession of this unnecessary equaliser. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Ancelotti persisted with Pickford pretty much throughout the first half of the season, only dropping him twice in that period – once after he came under serious media scrutiny for a season-ending tackle on Virgil van Dijk, which went unpunished due to the Dutchman being offside. Olsen deputised in those cases and has also started the last two matches since Pickford has been out of action due to a rib injury.

Yet, he too has failed to convince, and his poor performance against Manchester United (where he should have prevented at least one of the Red Devils’ three goals) has garnered some criticism too.

Jordan Pickford