Everton 1 Swansea 2: How Roberto Martinez's side might have avoided a surprising defeat to the Swans

ANALYSIS: We've teamed up with Sports Interactive, the makers of Football Manager, to re-run one of the weekend's key games to see how the losers might have prevailed had they done things differently

Everton's players look on dejected after their 2-1 defeat (Getty Images)

Everton slipped to their fifth home defeat of the season this weekend, losing 2-1 to Francesco Guidolin’s Swansea, despite having 60% of possession and creating several more chances than their opponents but were only able to stick two shots on target. The Goodison Park faithful voiced their displeasure on a number of occasions during the match and Roberto Martinez is starting to come under pressure to guide his side away from a potential relegation fight.

The re-run

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Line-up: Howard, Coleman, Stones, Funes Mori, Baines, Barry, Besic, Deulofeu, Barkley, Mirallas, Lukaku (One change from the original starting line-up; Swansea remain unchanged)

Final Score: Everton 3-0 Swansea (Scorers: Lukaku (2), Mirallas)

The virtual Martinez has no such problems however, as his side records a comfortable victory over a Swansea side that struggles to cope with the physicality of Lukaku and the pace and flair of Deulofeu and Mirallas on the flanks. Swansea also find it difficult to consistently supply the ball to Andre Ayew with Everton putting up a resolute defence once they have the lead in the match.

Instead of dropping too deep, Ross Barkley runs the show (Getty Images)

Ross Barkley is the driving force behind much of Everton’s attacking play. Having been forced to drop deep far too often in Sunday’s match, he is able to dictate play high up the pitch in the virtual re-run, putting in three key passes and earning an assist over the course of the ninety minutes. His link-up play with the two wingers allows Everton to get in behind the Swansea backline consistently; in fact, the average pass completion rate between Everton’s attacking midfield trio is 67%.

Everton’s opening goal comes after just five minutes as Mirallas completes the first of eight successful dribbles into the opposition area and squares the ball to Lukaku who emphatically slams home from the edge of the six-yard box. The Belgian striker’s second is a fantastic solo effort that sees him exchange passes with Barkley before shaking off his marker and firing low across the body of Fabianski and into the bottom left corner.

Mirallas completes the scoring inside the last twenty minutes. He surges past Rangel before cutting the ball back to Deulofeu on the edge of the area whose shot is blocked. The rebound falls to Mirallas who takes a touch to steady himself before lifting the ball into the roof of the net.

Swansea rarely trouble the Everton goal and only put three shots on target. Their best chance of the match comes at 2-0 when Ayew finally shakes off the attentions of John Stones to go one-on-one with Tim Howard but the American stopper pulls off a smart save. In contrast to Everton, Swansea’s attacking players average a pass completion rate of only 59% as Guidolin’s side struggle for successful attacking movement in the final third of the pitch.