In the eyes of many, Everton’s dramatic slide began against Watford so the Blues now have the chance to come full circle and take their revival to new heights at Vicarage Road tonight. Everton haven’t won three Premier League games on the bounce all season – until Sunday they’d only recorded back-to-back victories once, against Brighton & Hove Albion and Burnley – and a big part of that was of course their total absence of successes on the road since the 2-0 triumph at the Amex Stadium last August.
Over the past week-and-a-half there has been a dramatic shift at the Blues though, both on and off the pitch. Like a cat on its ninth life, Frank Lampard’s side finally slipped into the relegation zone before the Merseyside Derby at Anfield on April 24 after Burnley’s 1-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers with the Clarets having spurned numerous previous opportunities to punish them.
Although Everton took no tangible rewards from that fixture, despite holding high-flying neighbours Liverpool for the first hour and feeling aggrieved over not being awarded a penalty following Joel Matip’s challenge on Anthony Gordon – an incident that prompted the FA to ask Lampard to explain his post-match comments on – a sense of steely determination started to finally set in.
