Everton’s Frank Lampard takes heart from derby and warns against negativity

Everton manager Frank Lampard has stressed how important it is for everyone associated with the club not to get “sucked into” a negative frame of mind after defeat by Liverpool ensured the club ended the weekend in the relegation zone.

A gritty, at times bad-tempered 2-0 loss in the 240th Merseyside derby saw the visitors secure only 17.6% of possession during the game. Coupled with victory for Burnley over Wolves earlier in the day, this saw the Blues in the bottom three for the first time since December 2019.

However, this is the deepest into a season the club have found themselves in the relegation places since 1998-99 and their 68-year stay in the top flight is starting to look in increasing danger as they are two points adrift, albeit with a game in hand. That situation could be even worse by the time third-placed Chelsea arrive at Goodison Park on Sunday as Burnley travel to fellow strugglers Watford the previous day.

Lampard has insisted they cannot afford to expend any energy on other clubs’ results but spending at least a week in the bottom three will not help the psychology of his players.

He said: “There are 18 points to fight for, that is a lot of points. It is important for the players and fans and club not to get sucked into that in a negative way.

“Be realistic, yes – but there are a lot of games for us to try to win. With the attitude we showed, the togetherness and spirit, and if a few things go our way, we’ll get the results.”

The Premier League’s statistics showed that Liverpool enjoyed 82.4% of possession at Anfield, with 787 successful passes compared to 173 for Everton. The only two passes that Brazilian midfielder Allan completed during his 73 minutes on the pitch, during which he also received a yellow card, were both from kick-offs. However Lampard highlighted that his side had doggedly stuck to their gameplan against their title-chasing opponents.

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He said: “We showed great organisation away from home, which is something we’ve been striving for. Every game we have to be spot on, we have to fight and believe.

“The whole club has to do that, there will be some negative chat [externally], but we’ve been in this fight since I’ve been here. If it goes to the end, let’s stand up and take it to the end.”