Everton's players are in "dreamland" and the squad are suffering from a significant lack of leadership, says Tim Howard.

Frank Lampard's team lost again on the road on Sunday, going down 2-1 to West Ham in another blow to their chances of staying up.

Just three points separate Everton from the bottom three, and the Toffees still have to face fellow strugglers Burnley and Watford away from home, where they have taken just six points all season.

Since the start of October, Everton have won the fewest points in the top flight (12) and are the only side in the division to not win an away game in that timeframe (P11 D2 L9), while Lampard is the club's first manager in the Premier League era to lose his first four away matches in charge of the club in the competition.

Mason Holgate's deflected strike restored parity at the London Stadium after Aaron Cresswell's free-kick put West Ham ahead, yet Michael Keane and Alex Iwobi then combined to undo Everton's hard work.

Michail Antonio pounced on the error and Jarrod Bowen scored from the resulting rebound. Keane – captain of Everton in the absence of Seamus Coleman – later received a second yellow card for a lunge on striker Antonio.

Howard, who played under current West Ham manager David Moyes during a nine-year stint at Goodison Park, was angered by what he saw from Everton's players at full-time.

"I don't see a leader on this team. I see smiles. I see them losing again and I see smiles after the whistle," said Howard, who is a pundit on the USA Network.

"I see no urgency, no one running to get the ball, chasing it, kicking up the pitch. It's as if they're in dreamland that they're not in this thing.

"[There is] lack of leadership. Three red cards in the last three games. You have to basically say to each other, 'We can't even win a game with 11 players, don't you dare get sent off', and it just keeps happening."

Everton have had a player sent off in each of their last three Premier League games, matching a record in the competition for successive matches by a team with a player having been shown red. It had previously occurred on 10 occasions.

Lampard was only given his marching orders three times across his entire Premier League playing career, and Everton are the first Premier League side to have a player see red in three games in a row since Watford in December 2017.

Everton have made eight errors leading to goals in the Premier League, at least three more than any other team this season, and Howard questioned why Keane – who picked up his first booking for fouling Antonio before half-time – was even kept on the pitch by Lampard.

"You have to protect your team, knowing that it was a rash challenge, he hasn't been in the best of form," Howard said.

"He's giving you the right opportunity to say, 'Sorry Michael, you're coming off, I have to put somebody on who I know can finish the game'."

While West Ham boosted their hopes of pushing for the Champions League, Everton stay 17th, with that huge Burnley clash at Turf Moor next up on Wednesday.

Everton lost Donny van de Beek to injury in the warm-up, with Lampard confirming the on-loan midfielder would be assessed before the trip to face the Clarets.

Everton have endured a nightmarish season and currently find themselves in the Premier League's relegation scramble.

The Toffees are sitting only three points above the relegation zone, despite two games in hand on 18th-placed Watford.

Just as pertinent is their financial situation, which will reportedly force them into having to sell one of their most valuable assets.

TOP STORY – EVERTON TO CHOOSE BETWEEN RICHARLISON AND CALVERT-LEWIN

The Sun is reporting Richarlison or Dominic Calvert-Lewin will have to leave Everton in order for the club to balance their books.

Their latest figures revealed a £121million loss in the last financial year, and one of the two strikers will now have to be sold.

Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin are Everton's two highest goal scorers still at the club since the latter arrived in 2016. The Brazilian has scored 47 in 142 appearances in all competitions, while the former Sheffield United man has tallied 55 in 180 games.

Richarlison is a reported target for Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid, with Arsenal apparently keeping a close eye on Calvert-Lewin's situation.

ROUND-UP

– England midfielder Kalvin Phillips has told Leeds United he wants to sign a new contract, potentially warding off interest from the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle, per The Mirror.

– According to ESPN, Anthony Martial could be used to create a package deal from Manchester United for Tottenham's Harry Kane .

– Le Parisien report N'Golo Kante turned down an offer to leave Chelsea for Paris Saint-Germain in January.

– Milan have cooled on Real Madrid's Marco Asensio due to the 26-year-old's wage demands, as reported by Tuttosport.

Rafael Benitez had a "bad philosophy" and was never a good fit for Everton, according to Lucas Digne.

France international Digne left Everton in January, joining Aston Villa.

That move came after a falling-out with Benitez, with reports claiming that Digne – who did not feature for Everton after a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool on December 1 last year – had criticised the manager's conservative approach.

With Everton signing Vitaliy Mykolenko from Dynamo Kyiv, Digne was sold to Steven Gerrard's Villa for a reported £22million, less than a year after the left-back had signed a long-term contract with the Toffees, who he joined from Barcelona in 2018.

Yet less than a week after the switch to Villa had been finalised, Benitez was sacked after a defeat to Norwich City left Everton six points above the bottom three following a run of one win in 13 league games.

In an interview with L'Equpie, Digne did not hold back in his criticism of Benitez.

"I enjoyed three and a half years of happiness and love with the supporters," said the 28-year-old. "I had, and still have, a great relationship with them, with people at the club, my former team-mates.

"But I don't look back. Football is like that. One day everything's fine, and the next day, less so."

Regarding Benitez, Digne said: "The relationship we had was not good. It was complicated to be excluded from the squad for a month. It was an unprecedented situation in my career, but I had my family and my team-mates with me."

He said disagreement with Benitez concerned "the style of play, especially".

"I thought we had a team that could have a lot more possession. He asked me the question, I gave him my answer," Digne said. "I felt it legitimate to give him my feelings and those of the others in the dressing room. The group was unanimous. What followed proved me right, since he was fired because of poor results. I think he also had a bad philosophy. It didn't fit at Everton."

Benitez also suggested that Digne had informed him he did not wish to play for Everton, but this claim has also been refuted.

Digne said: "I never refused to play."

Matters have hardly improved for Everton under Frank Lampard, given they are just three points above the bottom three, albeit with games in hand on their rivals.

Gareth Southgate insists Jordan Pickford has "always played well" for England and backed the Everton goalkeeper to continue as the Three Lions' number one.

Pickford's place in Southgate's side has been called into question throughout his time as first choice, though the form of Aaron Ramsdale for Arsenal this season has resulted in increased examination of who deserves to play between the posts.

Everton's form has not helped, with the Toffees struggling in 17th place in the Premier League and having conceded the joint fifth-highest number of goals in the competition this season (47).

Pickford, meanwhile, has conceded 44 of those goals, from 25 appearances. Even if he has been a relatively consistent performer in a disappointingly inconsistent Everton side, only three Premier League goalkeepers have conceded more so far this season, though the 28-year-old has been kept busy, with his 85 saves ranking as the sixth-highest.

His save percentage of 65.9 is the seventh-lowest of goalkeepers to have featured at least 10 times in the top flight, and is way down compared to Ramsdale's impressive 76.3 per cent.

Pickford has, however, slightly overperformed his expected goals on target conceded (xGOT), by 0.6, though Ramsdale again comes out top in this metric, with a goals prevented figure of 3.3.

Yet on the international stage, Pickford is still Southgate's undisputed number one. He made three saves as England came from behind to beat Switzerland 2-1 in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday, including a stunning stop from Fabian Frei when the visitors were 1-0 up.

"He's always played well for us and he has a good focus with us," Southgate told a news conference.

"He has a very good relationship with [goalkeeper coach] Martyn Margetson, who I think does an excellent job with him. So, he knows the structure around him. He knows clearly how we want him to play.

"There is competition for everybody's position and that's what we want. We don't want people just sitting, thinking confidently that there's no competition that doesn't help a team.

"I think the form of the other goalkeepers is important. But he showed again, big saves at important moments."

Pickford has kept 20 clean sheets from 43 England appearances, conceding 32 times and not making a single error that has resulted in a goal.

Indeed, at Euro 2020, he kept five clean sheets – more than any other goalkeeper – while his save percentage (88.9) was also the best in the competition.

"I thought he was very calm with the ball," added Southgate. "That allowed us to relieve the pressure by going back and out of the press.

"Of course, he's got every club in the bag because he can go long, which is a problem for teams as well. So a very good performance from him, especially the saves in the first half."

The Premier League statistics this season do not back up claims of Pickford's reliable distribution, however, with his passing accuracy of 48.9 per cent ranking the third worst of goalkeepers with over 10 Premier League appearances.

That data could be skewed slightly by the fact that only Burnley's Nick Pope has attempted more long passes this season (581 compared to 544), with Everton have preferred a more direct approach under previous manager Rafael Benitez.

An Everton fan who threw a bottle that struck Aston Villa player Matty Cash has been handed a four-year football banning order and suspended prison sentence.

Roger Tweedle was also given 100 hours of community service after he hurled a bottle of Lucozade towards the pitch in the game at Goodison Park in January, which Villa won 1-0.

The incident occurred in first-half stoppage time as Villa's players celebrated Emi Buendia's headed opener, which proved to be the only goal of the game.

Several objects were thrown, with one bottle hitting Cash in the face, though he was able to continue playing.

Everton confirmed shortly after the game that they had identified the supporter and the matter was being dealt with by Merseyside Police.

Tweedle was arrested by police officers, later saying when interviewed that he was "not very happy" that Villa players had been celebrating in front of the home fans.

The 19-year-old pleaded guilty on Monday at Sefton Magistrates' Court to throwing a missile towards the playing area, as well as admitting common assault against Cash, and was sentenced to eight weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of £200, as well as £85 in costs and £128 to a fund for victims of crime.

Wayne Rooney and Patrick Vieira are the latest inductees into the Premier League Hall of Fame.

Former Man Utd striker Rooney and ex-Arsenal captain Vieira are the first names included as automatic picks in the class of 2022.

Six more players are set to join them by a public vote over the next fortnight, with the winners from a 25-player field of nominations to be announced in April.

Rooney – United's all-time leading goalscorer and second only to Alan Shearer in the competition's all-time list – won five Premier League trophies, while Vieira skippered the Gunners to three titles.

"It's a huge honour for me to be named in the Premier League Hall of Fame, alongside an incredible group of players who have already been inducted," Derby County boss Rooney said.

"Growing up, I watched the Premier League as far back as I can remember.

"To enter the Hall of Fame is very special for me personally and I'm grateful to be recognised."

Vieira, now back in the Premier League as manager of Crystal Palace, echoed Rooney's sentiments, adding: "Being inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame is a fantastic achievement.

"To be there with the best players in the Premier League, the best league in the world, is bigger than what I was ever thinking about.

"To have my name around those players makes me proud and makes me realise how good I was."

The Premier League of Hall Fame is in its second year of inception, having begun last year with an initial slate of eight honorees.

Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Dennis Bergkamp, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham were inducted previously as the class of 2021.

Frank Lampard claimed there is a problematic "culture" at Everton that will require "huge" work to fix following his side's FA Cup thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace.

The Toffees were beaten 4-0 at Selhurst Park in Sunday's quarter-final as Lampard became the third manager to lose each of his first four away games in charge of the club and the first since 1956.

Everton lost Andros Townsend to injury after a bright start, and once Marc Guehi had headed in the opener after 25 minutes, their resistance seemed to crumble.

Jean-Philippe Mateta made it 2-0 before half-time, with Wilfried Zaha and Will Hughes doubling Palace's lead in the final 11 minutes to complete a resounding win.

Everton were jubilant on Thursday after Alex Iwobi's injury-time goal sealed a valuable victory over Newcastle United, but they have now lost nine of their 11 matches in 2022 and conceded 16 goals in five consecutive away losses.

Just three points separate them from Watford in the Premier League relegation zone and, despite having two games in hand, manager Lampard is worried about their predicament.

When asked how big the task facing him is, Lampard told ITV Sport: "Huge, huge, because some things I saw there and in our last away game are intrinsic. They're in there, they're in the culture, and they don't turn with the flick of a switch. They turn with a lot of hard work and character.

"I'm certainly up for that. I believe the players are up for that, but they have to show that in games, and they have to show a reaction in games to do things better.

"We could've been much more comfortable today, as in contesting that game to the end. That's where we should be. The way that we handled bits within the game, without Palace playing particularly well, allowed them a free pass into the semi-final, as far as I'm concerned."

Lampard did not think Palace had to play particularly well in order to progress to the final four.

"Every time we concede, our heads go down and we get worse," he said. "Did Palace have to be good to beat us today? No.

"I'm not disrespecting Palace; I've come here with Chelsea teams and seen Zaha give us problems, [Eberechi] Eze give us problems, Conor Gallagher is one of the best players in the league this year. None of that happened today, and we lost 4-0.

"The dream of getting to Wembley and playing in a semi-final and final has gone. As far as I'm concerned, the biggest prize always this year was, can we stay in the Premier League? That's the focus now."

To compound Everton's problems, it appears Townsend could be facing a lengthy spell out of action after injuring his knee.

"He got his feet caught in the turf. It looks a bad knee injury. I'm devastated for him," Lampard added.

"I don't think it will be weeks. I'll reserve judgement until we find out more. It'll be more than that."

Crystal Palace joined Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals as they thrashed Everton 4-0 on Sunday.

Frank Lampard's Everton headed to Selhurst Park on the back of a morale-boosting and much-needed league win over Newcastle United yet despite a bright start they crashed out of the cup.

Palace's 3-1 win over Everton in December in the Premier League was their first against the Toffees in 14 matches and they were well on their way to another thanks to first-half goals from Marc Guehi and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Patrick Vieira's team were hardly troubled after the break, and they capped off progression in style thanks to late goals from Wilfried Zaha and Will Hughes.

Everton might have been ahead inside the opening minute, but Ben Godfrey just failed to meet Michael Keane's scuffed shot.

Guehi survived a penalty claim after his sloppiness allowed Richarlison to pounce, though Everton's bright start was punctured when former Palace winger Andros Townsend suffered an apparent knee injury.

Palace made that break count, with the unmarked Guehi heading in from Olise's inswinging corner.

Zaha missed a great chance teed up by Mateta, yet the latter made no mistake when Palace's talisman returned the favour, drilling home first-time from a brilliant cutback, and only a last-ditch Seamus Coleman tackle prevented the striker doubling his tally before the break.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin was introduced at half-time, yet he had managed just eight touches by the time Demarai Gray went close in the 66th minute.

There was precious little quality to the visitors' play despite their precarious position and their FA Cup exit was confirmed in fittingly humbling fashion as a sliced Olise strike hit the post and fell for Zaha to nudge home.

Hughes similarly tapped into an empty net for Palace's fourth to the delight of a jubilant home crowd.

Frank Lampard called for greater consistency in the use of VAR in the Premier League, as Everton midfielder Allan's three-match suspension for a red card against Newcastle United was upheld.

Allan was initially cautioned for a clear tactical foul on Allan Saint-Maximin at Goodison Park on Thursday, but Craig Pawson upgraded the decision to a red after VAR advised the referee to review the touchline monitor.

Alex Iwobi proved the late hero to secure a vital 1-0 win for Everton in a clash that was paused due to a protestor tying himself to a goalpost early in the second half, though the Toffees were not as fortunate two weeks earlier when VAR failed to spot a handball by Manchester City's Rodri that would have provided a late penalty for Lampard's side in a 1-0 defeat.

Speaking prior to the announcement that Everton were unsuccessful in having Allan's red rescinded or his three-game ban reduced, Lampard had vented his frustrations at the use of technology in officiating.

"There are question marks over VAR. I understand the human side and I don't want to bang the drum about that," Lampard told reporters at a news conference on Friday when asked about Allan's dismissal.

"There will be faults in it because we are human. I make mistakes as a manager, the players make mistakes, this is the world we live in and we don't want to get rid of the system, but it is the consistency. I'm very happy to have those conversations. We have to have them to move forward."

Allan will miss Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace and Premier League matches against West Ham and Everton's fellow strugglers Burnley.

Everton manager Frank Lampard revealed he broke his hand celebrating his side's remarkable 1-0 win over Newcastle United on Thursday.

A hectic game lasted for 118 minutes due to a second-half delay when a protester attached himself to the Goodison Park goalposts and could not be removed.

Everton, coming into the match outside the Premier League's bottom three only on goal difference, then had to play from the 83rd minute onwards with 10 men.

Allan was initially only booked for hacking down Newcastle substitute Allan Saint-Maximin, but the VAR advised Craig Pawson to revisit his decision, which he did – prompting howls of frustration among home players, staff and fans when the replay was shown on the big screen.

Everton had been on the back foot with 11 men and appeared ready to sit in and settle for a precious point, only for one final chance to present itself.

Seamus Coleman stole the ball from Saint-Maximin and fed Alex Iwobi, who traded passes with Dominic Calvert-Lewin before steering a low shot past Martin Dubravka for the second-latest winning goal since Opta's Premier League records began in 2006-07.

There were scenes of mass celebration both when the ball hit the net and when the final whistle belatedly blew, giving Everton their first win over Newcastle since December 2019 – albeit one that came at a cost for Lampard.

"I've broken my hand in the celebrations for the goal," Lampard told Amazon Prime, revealing a significant bruise. "It's a bit sore, a bit shaky, but I don’t care."

Prior to Thursday's win, Everton had earned only three points in six matches since Lampard's January appointment – more than Norwich City alone over that period. Newcastle's 16 points trailed only Liverpool.

"We were all waiting for this – a night of togetherness and fight and spirit," Lampard explained.

Indeed, rather than take credit for any calls he made in a game that saw Newcastle win the shot count 17-9 and dominate 61.6 per cent of the possession, the Toffees boss attributed the victory to a brilliant atmosphere on Merseyside.

I don't think it's my formations or cleverness that will keep us up," he said. "It's part of the bigger picture, but it's people and the players that will keep us up, and the fans when we get together.

"I thought the start of the game was a bit special. I know I'm new to this, an evening game at Goodison, but you could feel the crowd.

"Maybe they had a couple of pints of Guinness for St Patrick's Day. Fair play, we need that. We need them behind us.

"If we get out of this it's together, the fans and the players played their part."

Everton's Premier League contest against Newcastle United was temporarily halted on Thursday after a protester tied himself to a goalpost.

Wearing a shirt with the slogan "Just Stop Oil" emblazoned on it, the protester cable tied themselves to the post, causing a lengthy delay.

The move failed to garner support from those in attendance, with a steward needing to find pliers in order to detach the cable from the goal frame, before he was eventually carried away by police.

The campaign group Just Stop Oil claimed responsibility for the actions, posting on Twitter: "BREAKING: Just Stop Oil supporter locks on to goalpost during Everton vs Newcastle United game."

Everton manager Frank Lampard has called for his players to answer Jamie Carragher's criticism on the pitch when they host Newcastle on Thursday.

The Toffees fell to a 15th defeat in 19 Premier League games with a 1-0 defeat to Wolves at home last Sunday, leaving them level on points with 18th-placed Watford, who have played three games more.

Speaking on Sky's Monday Night Football, Carragher subsequently labelled Everton players a "disgrace", and branded the Newcastle clash at Goodison Park the club's biggest fixture in over 20 years.

Lampard may have lost just one of his last 11 top-flight home games against English managers, but Everton have been defeated in 16 of their 26 Premier League games this season – the Toffees last lost more in a single campaign in 2003-04 (17).

However, he believes his team will bounce back on the pitch against Newcastle, who saw their nine-game unbeaten league run end in a 1-0 defeat at Chelsea last time out.

"It's the players' job to answer that on the pitch," Lampard said of Carragher's comments at Wednesday's pre-match news conference. 

"The Wolves game wasn't a disgrace, but I understand the analysis because you look at the Tottenham game and on a footballing level, I didn't like the game at all. I wouldn't use that language but I didn't like the game at all.

"But we have to accept that people have opinions, people who care and do their jobs in the media, in many ways, not just Jamie, but the players have to answer it on the pitch, it's the only way.

"You'll be in these positions in relative ways so many times in your career, you have to get together – the players individually, collectively, myself of course, and answer it on the pitch."

One concern for Everton is that Newcastle have won each of their last three league fixtures against the Toffees, including a 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture, and Lampard knows the size of the task at hand.

"It's not time for lies or to change the story, we know where we're at," he continued. "We've also seen that this club have stayed up in the league on the last day a couple of times [in 1994 and 1998] so it's not absolutely new.

"Maybe that's why the nerves creep in with the players and the fans, that's human nature, but for us it's not about having fear of what might be. It's what can we action, we deal with these 12 games in front of us.

"You look at Newcastle, since Eddie Howe went in there and made great progress but the first games [he only won one game out of first 10], what needed to change, things take time.

"I'm not talking about seasons and seasons, that's a different kind of thing, about building an idea at a club.

"In terms of changing a club in a difficult position, they take a bit of time and I think Newcastle used January to their credit, financially they were in a position to add well in personnel. We're not in that position, we can only focus on ourselves."

A supremely busy Premier League Sunday may not have included either of the top two, but there was certainly no shortage of talking points.

There was particular focus towards the bottom of the table, with Norwich City and Everton losing yet again, while in the top-four race, Arsenal took another step towards sealing the final Champions League spot.

Chaos continues to engulf Chelsea, but they carry on winning, claiming a dramatic 1-0 win over Newcastle United, who were reminded again what it is like to lose following an impressive unbeaten run.

Without any further ado, Stats Perform looks at the key Opta facts from some of the day's games…

Chelsea 1-0 Newcastle United: Havertz decisive again

It was a particularly strange day at Stamford Bridge, with much of the pre-match noise focused on the two clubs' owners and fans.

But once the game started it was quickly remembered that this was going to give the clearest indication of the true extent of Newcastle's recent improvement.

As it happened, Chelsea clinched a late winner through Kai Havertz, who appeared to channel Dennis Bergkamp as he brought down Jorginho's pass and prodded home almost in one action.

That was the German's sixth goal involvement in five league games and saw him net in three successive top-flight matches for the club, with the former Bayer Leverkusen talent well and truly establishing himself as one of the competition's standout attackers.

It brought Newcastle's nine-match unbeaten run in the league to an end, with it also the first time since December that the Magpies have failed to score in the competition, though it was another encouraging performance from Eddie Howe's team.

Arsenal 2-0 Leicester City: Gunners finding their groove

Everything's looking rather rosy right now at Arsenal, with the Gunners making a pretty convincing case for the top four – this victory puts them a point clear of Manchester United, with Mikel Arteta's men crucially having three games in hand.

Leicester never looked like interrupting Arsenal's flow here, with the hosts in fine shape and playing eye-catching football.

This was their fifth successive league win, with Arsenal the only team outside of the top three to achieve that feat this season.

Their home form has proven a major help. They have lost just once at the Emirates Stadium since losing to Chelsea in their season opener, winning 10 of those 13 games.

Martin Odegaard in particular seems to have found another level lately, and he was excellent again, creating six chances. Five of those came in the first 45, making it the most by an Arsenal player in the first half of a game since October 2017 (Mesut Ozil, six).

Leeds United 2-1 Norwich City: Marsch madness twist leaves Canaries looking doomed

Leeds fans were devoted to Marcelo Bielsa. His replacement, Jesse Marsch, has been received well, but the jury is out on him.

A first win will surely aid his hopes of inspiring a bit of Marsch madness in the fanbase, and it came in dramatic circumstances too.

Joe Gelhardt scored a 90th-minute winner, making him the youngest player (19 years 313 days) to score a last-minute decider in the Premier League since February 2017 (Gabriel Jesus, 19y 308d) – the drama appeared to floor Marsch, who went tumbling to the ground amid the jubilant celebrations.

The joy on the Leeds bench was juxtaposed by the despair among the Norwich players and staff.

That was the Canaries' 20th Premier League defeat of the season in 29 games – never before in a league campaign have they reached 20 losses in fewer games.

Everton 0-1 Wolves: Lage's men continue exceptional 2022 form

What a season this is turning out to be for Wolves. When Nuno Espirito Santo left, there were certainly those who feared for the club's Premier League status given the stability that had served them well for several years was about to be truly tested.

Yet, they needn't have worried. Here we are in March and Wolves are challenging for European football and are one of the two form teams in the league in 2022.

This was their seventh Premier League win of the calendar year, secured by Conor Coady's goal, and leaves them with 21 points since January 1 – only Liverpool (eight wins, 25 points) have a better record than Wolves in 2022.

The reality is rather grimmer for Everton, however. Defeat here leaves them on 22 points from 26 matches, the lowest tally they have ever recorded at this stage of any league campaign (assuming a win equals three points).

This latest disappointment will likely bring fresh questions of manager Frank Lampard given only Norwich (one) have accumulated fewer points than Everton (three) since the former Chelsea boss' first game in charge.

Everton manager Frank Lampard saw his team slide deeper into Premier League relegation danger but insisted they were "the better team" in the first half against Wolves.

Conor Coady's goal shortly after the break handed a 1-0 victory to Bruno Lage's visitors at Goodison Park, as the hosts finished the game with 10 men following Jonjoe Kenny's double yellow dismissal.

With just two shots on target all game and none following the interval, Everton sit above the bottom three only on goal difference, albeit with up to three games in hand over several rivals.

Former Chelsea boss Lampard - who has won three and lost five of his first eight games in charge of Everton - stated his side played well despite walking away empty-handed again.

"I thought we were the better team in the first half," Lampard told BBC's Match of the Day. "Wolves always give you a tight game. They don’t score much, but they don’t concede much.

"We played well, not getting the goal, and then their goal changes the game in a big sense because it brought out the nervousness in us.

"We must keep our head up and the important thing now is to remain positive. There is still a long way to go. We are understanding of that.

"It’s easy to react very quickly and strongly to the way we are at. There are a lot of games where we need to keep mental strength.

"We came into a club on a bad run. You get used to losing games and that isn’t something that turns instantly.

"We must stay very balanced and make sure we stay very together and know there are a lot of games to get the points that we need."

Frank Lampard insisted Everton are not in a "crisis" despite the Toffees sitting just a point above the relegation zone in the Premier League.

Everton were hammered 5-0 at Tottenham last time out as they fell to a 14th defeat in their last 18 top-flight games, leaving them in 17th with just 22 points after 25 games.

That is their lowest points tally at this stage of a top-flight season in the club's history, with Lampard's side heading into a crucial phase of the relegation battle.

Lampard has been keen to stress the importance of Everton's form at Goodison Park, but no team has lost more Premier League home games than the Toffees (13) since a 2-1 loss to West Ham at the start of 2021.

Ahead of hosting Wolves on Sunday, Lampard stressed his team's struggles are commonplace in football as he downplayed any suggestions of turmoil.

"It's not a crisis. It's very normal and I did have bad ones [in the past]. I don't need to name them, but I had some bad personal ones, team ones," Lampard responded when asked about the situation at Everton.

"That happens in football and in the position that we're in. I didn't think we'd win 15 on the bounce and get into the Europa League positions.

"You have to be very candid with the players, and they should want that because nobody liked Monday night [against Spurs]. I had them as a player."

Everton have lost their last three Premier League matches by an aggregate score of 8-0. They last had a longer run of consecutive league defeats without scoring a single goal between August and October 2005 (6), but Lampard remains optimistic.

"The message from my point of view is I'm very much ready for the fight and the challenge. Nothing has surprised me since coming in," he said.

"We appreciate the support, I remain very optimistic and confident, but the reality is we need results."

Lampard was also asked about his relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who was sanctioned by the British government following Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

However, the 43-year-old revealed he did not often communicate with Abramovich, despite playing over 400 times for Chelsea and managing the club between 2019 and 2021.

"I can probably count on one hand how many times I've seen him in the last however many years," Lampard said of Abramovich.

"I worked for Chelsea, which was an absolute pleasure, for 13 years and that's exactly where I want to leave that one."