Matt Furniss of Opta Analyst assesses James Garner’s impressive season so far, emphasised by his decisive role in Everton's win at Aston Villa.
Expectations were low for Everton last Sunday when they travelled to play Aston Villa, who were on an eight-game winning streak in the Premier League. After all, it had been 10 years since the Toffees last picked up a league victory at Villa Park.
But against the odds, Everton became just the second team to beat Villa in 29 Premier League home matches, with a disciplined display and Thierno Barry’s exquisite second-half chipped finish securing a 1-0 win.
Barry might have grabbed the goal, but it was midfielder James Garner who stole the show. Crucially for him, his man-of-the-match display was in front of a watching Thomas Tuchel, with the England manager assessing his options ahead of the World Cup this summer.
Garner put in an impressive performance, but that shouldn’t have come as a surprise. The 24-year-old's excellent form was rewarded with a new four-and-a-half year contract on Friday.
It’s his consistent output this campaign that has raised questions over whether Garner could challenge for a defensive midfield role in the England squad.
He dictated play in the middle of the pitch for Everton against Villa, having 26 more touches than any other outfield team-mate and completing nearly double the number of passes compared to anyone else in the side (with 44).
After the game, Garner explained Everton's approach at Villa Park. "We tried to nullify what they are good at, which is playing through the middle. We tried to block off all the passing lanes and force it wide. Then, we waited for our moment and won it back."
He certainly played a key role in doing just that, with a match-high seven tackles, four interceptions and seven duels won.
Making the World Cup squad would be a surprise considering he’s never received a call-up to the England squad before, but those who have kept a close eye on Garner this season wouldn’t be too shocked.
Garner will turn 25 years old in March, and he is proof that development is non-linear. Based on his performances in 2025/26, there is a feeling the midfielder is coming of age in the Premier League.
Highly-regarded as a youngster at Manchester United, Garner had a mixed loan spell at Watford followed by a more productive one at Nottingham Forest.
Under Steve Cooper's management, Garner was a standout player for Forest as they won promotion from the Championship in 2021/22, playing all but five of their league matches (including play-offs), producing 12 goal involvements from central midfield (four goals, eight assists) and creating more chances than any other player at the club (88).
That tally was bettered by only four players in the entire division, while only one player created more from set-piece situations than he did (46).
That form was enough to entice Everton, who signed Garner for a reported £15million in September 2022. The Toffees' manager at the time, Frank Lampard, was theoretically the perfect role model for the young central midfielder to learn from, but Garner would only appear seven times for him, due to a back injury only two months after signing and then Lampard’s dismissal in January 2023.
Lampard's replacement was Sean Dyche, and in two years under him, Garner became a reliable part of the Everton side. Only eight players played more Premier League minutes than Garner did (3,915) during Dyche's reign, while only seven players made more than his 51 appearances.
Versatility was a key reason for Dyche's use of Garner, with the Englishman playing in both central and defensive midfield roles in the Premier League under him, but also 17 per cent of minutes as a right-sided midfielder and eight per cent as a right-back.
That adaptability has been key for Everton's current manager David Moyes, too. Three of Garner's first four appearances in the Premier League this season were as a makeshift left-back, and he has also played 12 per cent of his minutes at right-back. His growing maturity as a footballer has enabled him to fill in for absent players in those roles, but it’s also made him more of a leader in the Everton team, as he himself has acknowledged.
"I want to keep that overall consistency, and be a player who people can look to as a leader, setting the right examples," Garner told Everton's official website.
"The manager has really trusted me – and what he asks of me to do on a game day, it suits exactly how I play. He's been really important since he's come in."
Garner has already made one more appearance and played 380 more minutes of Premier League football this season compared to last, while both his goal (two) and assist (three) tallies are higher than in any previous top-flight season.
Despite Everton only having marginally more of the ball this season (42.5 per cent possession compared with just over 40 per cent in the last two campaigns), Garner is having a greater impact. He’s averaging a career-high 68.1 touches and 45.6 passes per 90 minutes; over 10 touches and six passes more than he did last season in the Premier League.
Garner is an intelligent passer, too. He’s averaging a higher expected assists rate than ever before (0.12 per 90) and leads Everton players for line-breaking passes (146), crucially with over half of these coming in the final third of the pitch (79). In total, 15 of his line-breaking passes have led to an Everton shot within the following 10 seconds, more than double any other player in the Toffees’ squad this season, despite playing over a quarter of his league minutes as a full-back.
Only Jack Grealish (91) has more involvements in open-play shot-ending sequences than Garner (72) for Everton this season, showing how crucial he’s been overall in the creation of chances for his side.
Garner's also busier without the ball, averaging a career-high 4.4 tackles and interceptions per 90, while only three players in the Premier League have covered more ground than him in 2025/26 (240.1km). That impressive work rate is further highlighted by the fact he’s run the furthest for Everton in half of their Premier League matches since the start of October (eight).
Garner is also a key player in Everton’s pressing. A "pressure" can have one of three different intensity levels, which are determined by a combination of factors including the distance, velocity and direction of approach by the pressuring player. High pressures are when players are within 0-2 metres, medium is when players are within 2-4 metres and low is when those are 4+ metres away.
Partly because Everton aren’t a possession-dominant team, they are one of the sides who press the most across the pitch in the Premier League this season. Only Burnley have applied more pressures overall than Everton, while Moyes’ side rank fourth for high pressures applied.
Garner ranks second for total pressures (1,154) behind Barry (1,216) but is top for pressures that qualify as high intensity (836), with the majority of those (69.4 per cent) coming inside the defensive half. Overall, in the Premier League, only Wolverhampton Wanderers' Joao Gomes (682), Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson (677) and Brentford’s Yehor Yarmoliuk (645) have applied more high-intensity pressures in the defensive half of the pitch than Garner (581) among non-defenders.
Anderson will arguably be Garner's biggest competitor when Tuchel selects his midfielders for England's matches against Uruguay and Japan in March.
Forest star Anderson has forced his way into the full national team since his debut in September, making six appearances, of which five were starts. This followed an impressive summer, leading the England Under-21s side to glory in the European Championship, where he was named in the official team of the tournament.
While Anderson has once again been a strong player for Forest in the Premier League this season, there is an argument Garner has been even more influential and impressive.
With Garner committing his long-term future to the Toffees, Everton might have a player who could develop even further into one of international pedigree.