Everton 3-1 Coventry: Barry's burst papers over a flat first half

Everton are fifth in the Premier League after a 3-1 win over Coventry City at Hill Dickinson Stadium, but the margin of victory says less about the performance than the table will. Thierno Barry's quickfire double and a late Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall break gave the scoreline a comfort it did not always deserve, and the first half in particular raised questions about whether the points return can hold if the process does not improve.

Everton's response was swift. Barry headed in from a Mykolenko cross on 56 minutes, then scored again from close range on 61. Dewsbury-Hall added the third on 81 minutes, racing away down the left on a quick break and smashing past Rushworth at the near post. A long VAR check confirmed he was onside.

The raw numbers tell a more even story than the scoreline. Possession was split 50-50. Everton had 16 shots to Coventry's 15, seven on target to four, and four big chances to three. Coventry's 15 shots and three big chances are not the numbers of a side that was swept aside. They are the numbers of a side that stayed in the game and lost it to a clinical spell.

Where Everton did separate themselves was in the quality of their chances. Their expected goals of 2.25 against Coventry's 1.40 reflects a greater threat when they did get through. That 2.25 is well above the 1.35 xG Everton had averaged across their earlier matches this season. The open-play figure is starker still: 2.1 here against an average of 0.75. They also got 30 touches in the Coventry box, against an average of 21.8. On the day, the volume was real. What the numbers do not capture is when it arrived.

Coventry had a first-half penalty claim when James Tarkowski appeared to pull the hair of Caleb Yirenkyi with the score goalless. It was the kind of moment that shapes a first half, and it went Everton's way.

There is a version of this match that reads as control: Everton had the better chances, scored three, and moved up the table. There is another that reads as a warning. Coventry's equaliser-forcing spell came first, and Everton's response was clinical rather than controlling.

Barry is the reason the gap has not yet cost them. Only Erling Haaland has more league goals this season, and his double here was the difference between a frustrating draw and a comeback win. That is a valuable thing to have. It is also a fragile thing to rely on.

Everton's league record under David Moyes this season is three wins, four draws and two losses from nine games, 1.44 points per game. That is a solid return, but it sits well below the 1.89 points per game Everton managed across 38 games under Roberto Martínez in 2013/14. The comparison is not a demand for a repeat of that season; it is a measure of how much room there is between a top-five position and the underlying performance.

Coventry leave with nine points from ten games, three wins and seven defeats. Their position in the table is not stated, but the points total tells its own story. A credible away display against a top-five side, and a first goal for Gboho, are the positives. The penalty claim is the grievance.

Everton's next fixtures will show whether the attacking surge here was a step forward or a one-off response to going behind.