A win against Leicester City on Bonfire Night could have elevated Everton into the top half of the Premier League and even above neighbours Liverpool but instead their 2-0 defeat – with Harvey Barnes’ late second goal ensuring the Foxes, who went into the fixture in the relegation zone, leapfrogged their hosts in the table – means that the Blues are now left looking over their shoulders ahead of the World Cup break.
Given the high stakes surrounding Everton’s two fixtures against Leicester at the back end of last season – they met twice in the space of just 19 days after the home game, originally scheduled for December 18, 2021, was twice postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak within Brendan Rodgers’ squad – this latest meeting was deemed by many to be the ‘least important’ of the two clubs’ trio of meetings this year. But while it’s true that Frank Lampard’s side picked up four crucial points towards survival from that brace of games in the spring, including a first Premier League away win since the previous August, the unprecedented nature of the calendar for the current campaign adds increasing pressure to this weekend’s loss.
It’s bad enough when any Premier League team has to go into an international break on the back of a bad result as they know there’s nothing they can do about it for a fortnight. But just as Leicester, who until their triumph at Goodison Park had been in the relegation zone since August, were eager to move away from the drop zone ahead of the six-week hiatus, Everton do not want to find themselves in or around the bottom three when the music stops ahead of the tournament in Qatar. After last season’s trauma that saw the Blues come disgustingly close to what would have been a first relegation in 71 years, only to save themselves with just one game to spare despite recording the joint lowest equivalent points total in the club’s history, they have kept their heads above water this term.
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However, this latest setback has suddenly left Everton, who have now dropped to 16th, within touching distance of the relegation zone again because of the concertina-type contraction Leicester's win over them has caused in the bottom half of the division, with the Foxes jumping up five places (since reduced to four) and ensuring there is now just a three point gap between the clubs positioned from 12th to 18th In many ways the result has eerie parallels to Lampard’s first Premier League fixture as Everton manager at St James’ Park back in February when Newcastle United went into the game in the bottom three but climbed out with a 3-1 victory that breathed new life into their season and provided a springboard to a major revival while dragging the Blues closer to the mire.
Lampard will be hoping that history does not repeat itself in that respect and as he always does, will be trying to maintain a level head and play down the significance of solitary results in isolation. But there’s no sugar-coating this for the Toffees, it feels like a huge opportunity lost. Not only did they fail to sign off on a high in front of their home supporters ahead of Goodison’s last Premier League fixture until Boxing Day, in doing so they have ramped up the pressure in this final week of games.
Everton fans of course face the geographically daunting prospect of over a thousand miles of travelling in the space of four days due to a double-header at Bournemouth with a Carabao Cup tie on Tuesday followed by next Saturday’s Premier League match. Like the Blues, the Cherries will be smarting at what could have been having surrendered a 3-1 lead against Leeds United to lose 4-3 at Elland Road. But regardless of what happens in their first midweek meeting, Lampard and Gary O’Neil – Bournemouth’s caretaker boss since their 9-0 drubbing at Anfield – now face the prospect of a straight shoot-out next weekend to ensure their sides avoid falling into the danger zone at a pivotal and psychologically-damaging moment of the season.
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