Frank Lampard has insisted Everton are not a dirty team, despite the club getting the most red cards in the Premier League during his reign.
Everton have had five players sent off since Lampard’s appointment in January and were reduced to nine men in Sunday’s 3-2 defeat by Brentford when Jarrad Branthwaite and Salomon Rondon got their marching orders.
Jonjoe Kenny, Allan and Michael Keane have also seen red in recent weeks but while Lampard accepted Rondon was guilty of a poor tackle, he attributed the others to “footballing mistakes.”
Their relegation rivals Leeds have had Luke Ayling and Dan James given straight red cards for dangerous challenges, but Lampard feels Everton’s poor disciplinary record stems from other reasons and feels his players have to be more careful when they are on a booking in their final two games against Crystal Palace and Arsenal.
“I just think you have to look at the red cards,” he said. Discussing the two dismissals against Brentford, he added: “The first red was a footballing error and the second was a bad foul. Salomon appreciates that. We have got red cards and I am not proud of that, but a lot of them have been footballing errors.
“I don't think Allan was a red against Newcastle because it is a lunge we see a lot. I saw one on the [Championship] play-off semi last night, yellow card offences. So that’s gone, but the other ones were double yellows where it is diving in and lunging when you don’t need to, it’s not a reckless tackle.
“They are footballing mistakes because at that point you should stay on your feet and stay away. On a football level if you are on a yellow, you don’t dive in, you don’t tug a shirt.”
Branthwaite and Rondon are suspended when Everton host Palace on Thursday. Yerry Mina and Fabian Delph are injured, but Keane and Donny van de Beek are available while Lampard will make a late decision on whether Ben Godfrey is able to play.
