View: Everton's last European 16-17 team have similarities to Moyes' current side

Everton‘s 2025-26 side under David Moyes are close to being the first Toffees team to qualify for Europe since Ronald Koeman’s 2016-17 band, and they aren’t too dissimilar from one another.

With just six games to play, Everton are sitting eighth in the Premier League table, just five points behind bitter rivals Liverpool in fifth.

As such, Moyes’ men will know that a win in the Merseyside derby this Sunday would go a long way to helping them secure their place in Europe for next season.

Everton supporters probably won’t mind which competition that’s in either, as it’s been almost a decade since they last saw their team take on the continent’s best.

But with the competition really bunched up for those few spots, every point won or dropped could make all the difference for Everton between in this final run-in of games.

Everton’s 2016-17 team compared to David Moyes’ 2025-26 side

European football would be financially huge for Everton, as well as giving their supporters the chance to follow their team on some unique and brilliant away days across the continent.

With three wins from their last five and their only defeat in that time coming to Arsenal, this 2025-26 team are certainly ending the season in the right way to get into one of those coveted spots.

Indeed, it was Koeman’s team of 2016-17 that were the last Everton side to qualify for Europe, finishing seventh on 61 points that year.

So, how does that team compare to Moyes’ team of 2025-26, and are there any similarities between the two that helps points toward why the Toffees will make Europe this season?

As per Sofascore, the 2016-17 team averaged 1.6 goals per game, had 5.0 shots on target per game, kept 13 clean sheets and conceded 1.2 goals per game.

Meanwhile, Everton’s 2025-26 side have averaged only 1.2 goals per match, registered just 3.7 shots on target per game, have kept 11 clean sheets but have the exact same goals conceded per game average of 1.2.

Koeman’s team also had an awful lot more possession, with 52.1 per cent compared to 43.6 per cent from this Moyes side, but were also considerably more direct too, with 29.1 accurate long balls per game to the current team’s 12.1 respectively.

Do Everton’s 16-17 and 25-26 teams have personnel similarities?

On the face of it, seeing Everton’s 2016-17 team have higher possession stats as well as being significantly more direct than this current side looks confusing, but it’s actually fairly clear as to why that was the case.

Firstly, Koeman had Romelu Lukaku leading the line that season, and his 25 league goals that year were second only to Harry Kane’s 29, as the gameplan was to get the ball to the powerful striker as much as possible.

However, in central midfield, the Toffees had an engine room that consisted of the likes of Gareth Barry, Idrissa Gueye and Morgan Schneiderlin – all of whom were defensive minded and excellent ball retention players.

Ahead of them you had Ross Barkley though, and he was Everton’s creative node through middle of the pitch.

In central defence, Everton’s current pair of Michael Keane and James Tarkowski were similar to Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka in that Koeman side: big, tough, no-nonsense.

Obviously, Gueye is still turning out for Everton in midfield, so there’s an obvious connection there too, whilst Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish are both cut from a similar cloth to Kevin Mirallas, with all three of them being aggressive, skilful and fearless wingers.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has a bit of that early Barkley feel to his game this season as well, and so there are definitely some comparisons to be drawn between some of the players that made up these two teams.

Both Moyes and Koeman’s philosophies of being strong at the back and launching fast attacks are similar too, but the former does so mainly through quick passing counter-attacks, whereas the latter was more direct through the air.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Goodison Park.

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