Everton finished the season eighth in the Premier League but was knocked out early in the Europa League to make for a bittersweet campaign.
Everton brought Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Theo Walcott, Jordan Pickford, Morgan Schneiderlin, and the former Ajax midfielder Davy Klassen to bolster their roster. The squad seemed like they could sneak into the top six, but they finished in a respectable eighth position.
They were eliminated by Atalanta and Lyon in the group stage of the Europa League, which was a disappointing result. Here is a little review of the best and the worst from Everton’s 2017-18 season.
Biggest Win: 4-0 vs West Ham (November 29th)
Everton’s greatest victory this season was a 4-0 thrashing at Goodison Park over West Ham. On the day, Wayne Rooney had a hat-trick and Ashley Williams added the icing on the cake. The hat-trick was orchestrated by Rooney’s former England teammate and West Ham keeper Joe Hart, who made two mistakes that led to two of Rooney’s three goals.
The third goal was beautiful. After Joe Hart made a terrible mistake giving up the ball, Rooney hit it from 54-yards out for one of the best goals of the season.
Heaviest Defeat: 2-5 vs Arsenal (October 22nd)
Everton got smashed 5-2 by the Gunners in mid-October. Nacho Monreal, Alexis Sanchez, Alexandre Lacazette, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil scored for Arsenal. Wayne Rooney and Oumar Niasse shrank the deficit to make the loss look a little better. That game showed that even with a good squad, it is a challenge to beat one of the richest clubs in England.
Best Player: Theo Walcott
Every England football fan already knows about his talent on the pitch. However, in January, Walcott had left Arsenal after 12 years to join Everton. Playing as a midfielder, he notched nine goals and five assists in 33 appearances. According to whoscored, his average rating is 7.13 out of 10.
Worst Player: Ashley Williams
WILLIAMS 'FRUSTRATED' BY GAME TIME
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 27, 2018
Everton defender Ashley Williams says he has been left frustrated by a lack of game time since March.
He's already looking to the future: https://t.co/ubk3S20rD5 pic.twitter.com/CogRYGXJls
The Welsh defender came to Everton in 2016 after leading Wales to the Euro semifinals. He was terrible in defense for the Toffees last season and this season. Williams has suffered through some injuries, but Everton conceded 58 goals this past season with Williams playing in 24 games.
That’s an average of 1.5 goals conceded a game. It seems Ashley Williams will be looking for a new team this summer.