Over a thousand miles on the road in the space of four days proved to be the road to footballing hell for long-suffering Evertonians as a 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth left them just one place above the relegation zone going into the Premier League’s World Cup break.
We were told by Frank Lampard that this game would be very different to the previous match between these sides in the Carabao Cup at the Vitality Stadium on Tuesday night but while the respective personnel were much-changed, Everton again faced the long trek back up to Merseyside with nothing to show for their efforts.
After changing his entire starting XI for Tuesday's game, Blues boss Lampard retained just two starters from that chastening 4-1 thrashing and the frantic start from both sides showed just how much was at stake for both clubs as they looked to move clear of the drop zone ahead of English top-flight football’s Qatar-enforced hiatus.
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However, things quickly unravelled for Everton after an uncharacteristic blunder on 18 minutes from Jordan Pickford who spilled a shot from Dominic Solanke, enabling Marcus Tavernier to fire in the rebound.
There was even more chaos surrounding Bournemouth’s second goal seven minutes later with centre-back James Tarkowski down on the turf with what looked like a header injury and Blues players calling for a halt in proceedings but referee Craig Pawson played on, Pickford saved from Philip Billing only for Tavernier to head the ball back into the danger zone and Kieffer Moore to rise highest against Conor Coady and Vitalii Mykolenko and nod in from point blank range. While Tarkowski got back up and battled on, the Ukrainian international had to leave the field and was replaced by Seamus Coleman but the damage was done.
Bournemouth’s third goal from Jaidon Anthony on 69 minutes was all too easy as the substitute was left unmarked in the area to head home from a free-kick while Blues players were left looking at each other in disbelief.
For the second consecutive weekend, Everton were beaten by a team who leapfrogged them in the table and were left in the awkward position of sweating on Liverpool beating Southampton at Anfield to ensure they weren’t stuck in the bottom three until Boxing Day.
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