Jordan Pickford had already been playing at a high level, but improved even more following David Moyes’ arrival.
Everton look like a different team since reappoiting the Scottish manager, who spent 11 years at Goodison Park between 2002 and 2013.
After a few relegation scares from 2021 onwards, Moyes arrived in early 2025 and steadied the ship, guiding them to safety.
The 62-year-old followed up an impressive recovery campaign with even better results. The Toffees are currently eighth in the Premier League with an outside shot at European football.
Jordan Pickford is one of the main reasons why they stayed up last season and improved this year. He was already playing at a very high level under Sean Dyche, but has somehow got even better under Moyes.
How has Jordan Pickford improved over the past year?
2024-25 under Sean Dyche
Sean Dyche left Everton 16th in the table with just over half of the season played. Eighteen points from 20 games was good enough to have them above the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers and relegated trio Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton. But they were still just two points clear of the bottom three.
By then, Pickford still manage to have a good impact overall. He had a positive goals prevented tally of +1.7 and ranked well among other goalkeepers in saves (fifth) and even clean sheets (second) thanks to five goalless draws.
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But ultimately, despite Pickford’s heroic attempts, the Toffees were still poor defensively. Only five teams had faced fewer shots than them (253) at that point, while they were mid-table collectively in goals conceded (27) and him individually in save percentage (71%).
There is a catch, however. Looking at the quality of chances they conceded, Everton were just slightly above average. The shots on target their opponents managed were worth, on average, 0.107 Expected Goals — the eighth best in the league.
While it’s nothing to write home about, it’s still better than most of the teams. And despite not being great defensively, they were much better on that end than on the other. Dyche’s side’s main issue was creating opportunities and scoring goals.
The fact that only Southampton (12) had found the net less often than the Toffees (17) clearly proves this.
Since David Moyes’ return
But Moyes fixed this during his second spell. Since his return in January 2025, Everton are now among the best in the division in this regard.
Their shots conceded, on average, are worth 0.10 xG – the exact same as Arsenal. They are above league average (0.111) and rank joint-third, just behind only Sunderland (0.099) and Brentford (0.096).
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Pickford is still busy, given how Everton usually play, inviting teams into their own half but frustrating them by denying space and opportunities.
The shot-stopper is actually first in total (652) and on-target (211) shots faced in the Premier League since Moyes’ appointment.
But, on average, they are considerably lower-quality attempts than before under Dyche. Which means that Moyes’ defensive approach has complemented Pickford’s heroics, making for the league’s third best defence in this span (just 1.1 goals conceded per game).
He also leads the league in goals prevented (+10.2), and saves (147) in this span.
2025-26 season + World Cup
This season alone, the Golden Glove award will most likely end up with Arsenal’s David Raya. But it doesn’t mean that Pickford hasn’t been near his level.
The English number one is the fourth busiest goalkeeper in the top flight, having faced 128 shots on target. But still ranks first in goals prevented (+6.0), second in clean sheets (11) and keeper sweepings (27).
It also bodes well considering the current campaign ends with a World Cup between June and July. Pickford is England’s main option and has been basically since his debut nearly 10 years ago, in November 2017.
For perspective, the last time he didn’t feature in an international break for the national team was in September-October 2023 — two and a half years ago.
And the last time England played in a major tournament game without Pickford, including Nations League finals, was in the infamous 2-1 loss to Iceland at Euro 2016. At the time, Joe Hart was in goal and remained the first-choice goalkeeper despite the fall-off and a miserable loan transfer to Torino in Italy.
So Pickford would probably remain as England’s No.1 even if his form wasn’t as good as it is now. But the fact that he has not only maintained good performances but also improved them since Moyes took over is a great sign for Three Lions fans ahead of the biggest and greatest sporting event in the whole world.