Respite for under-fire Lampard as Everton stun Manchester United to boost relegation survival
After three consecutive defeats in all competitions and just one win in nine Premier League matches, Everton have finally given their fans a bit of hope with a big result against Manchester United.
Frank Lampard's side hosted the Red Devils in Saturday's early kickoff Premier League game and managed to secure the three points following a 1-0 win.
Backed by a charged crowd at Goodison Park, the Toffees showed the right attitude, ensuring that Anthony Gordon's first-half strike didn't get canceled out.
Everton have been quite shambolic under Lampard but they showed a lot of character and fighting spirit against Manchester United and deserved to win.
UP THE TOFFEES!!!!! ✊🔵
#EVEMUN https://t.co/qYWSwWFXPK
Everton boost relegation survival hopes
It isn't every day that you'd hear Everton being mentioned among the relegation candidates, but they were beginning to get drawn into the relegation dogfight.
Having lost a six-pointer against Burnley in midweek, the Toffees were left sitting just a point above the drop zone. Now, though, they are four points clear of the relegation zone.
The team's attitude against Ralf Rangnick's side was the most impressive thing. Unlike previous weeks where they collapsed under the least amount of pressure, the players stuck together and battled till the final whistle.
There is no doubt that more tests will come, as Everton are still yet to play Leicester City, Chelsea and Liverpool, but they boosted their chances of survival by beating Manchester United.
2-0 (20 April 2014)
Everton's last four wins against Man Utd:
✅ 2-0 (20 April 2014)
✅ 3-0 (26 April 2015)
✅ 4-0 (21 April 2019)
✅ 1-0 (09 April 2022)
The magic month. 🗓 https://t.co/UCmADTfPNm
Some respite for Lampard
Lampard has kept up appearances in public with some encouraging talks at his press conferences, but it was clear the pressure was getting to him.
The results have simply not been good enough since he took charge of Everton, which rightly led to calls for his sacking.
The victory against Manchester United buys him time, but there's more work to be done to prove that he deserves to keep his job.
"Three points, we need more of that so won't get carried away but we've been good here at Goodison," Lampard told talkSPORT in his post-match press conference.
"My time here we've got five wins in the seven games [in all competitions], we don't concede, we fight, the crowd get with us and we create something a bit special like today.
"We just need to go again with that, the next game's at home and we've not yet strung wins together in the league, so I'm really happy with how the whole stadium was, it was another special one but we've got more to do, I'm not jumping up and down because there is a lot more to do."
Lampard has been under huge pressure in recent weeks, but he has gained some respite after leading the Toffees to a win against Manchester United.
The challenge now is how the team maintains this kind of performance in subsequent matches as they aim to beat the drop.