The Stat Of The Century Has Been Found During Everton vs Sunderland

Stats are like marmite, you either love them or hate 'em.

But even if you detest the constant barrage of stats before, during and after a game, this wonderful piece of information during Everton's Carabao Cup tie against Championship side Sunderland will blow your mind.

It might not have looked the best of games on paper, but a statistic from Twitter user Steve Johnson gave this tie a hint of spice.

After Ronald Koeman made eight changes from last weekend's defeat to Manchester United, the Toffees looked under-strength, while Simon Grayson also mixed things up with six changes.

Steve Johnson noticed that the Sunderland starting XI had more Everton appearances than the actual Everton starting XI.

No, seriously - a Sunderland eleven containing the likes of Jack Rodwell, Darron Gibson and James Vaughan made 238 Everton appearances in total.

That's more than the likes of Besic, Williams and Steklenburg, who have made just 233 appearances in total. Madness!

Everton eventually won the Carabao Cup tie with ease, thanks to a brace from Dominic Calvin Lewin and a rare goal from Oumar Niasse.

Fans on Twitter were delighted with Niasse's contribution, praising his character during and after the game:

Let's not forgot that wonderful stat, though.

We still can't believe Everton reserves only managed to concede three against the first team.

Topics: Sunderland, Everton

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_