Your morning Everton headlines on Monday, April 11.
Frank Lampard outlines 10 day Everton plan after Manchester United win
Everton face a huge nine days as Frank Lampard looks to engineer a route to Premier League safety. The Blues do not play again until April 20, providing the backroom team with a long period to work on tactics and for players to rest and recuperate.
Weekend results led to the club restoring the four point cushion to the bottom three. Speaking before Burnley’s defeat at Norwich, Lampard said he believed the key to the break in the schedule would be to maintain the positivity created by Everton’s win over Manchester United on Saturday.
The lunchtime victory, secured through Anthony Gordon’s deflected first-half strike, laid the foundation for a weekend in which momentum swung towards Everton in the battle for survival. With biggest rivals Burnley losing 2-0 at bottom club Norwich, the gap lost in Everton’s defeat to the Clarets on Wednesday was quickly restored.
That result at Carrow Road also further boosted the good feeling around Finch Farm after the battling win 24 hours earlier. Crucial now for Lampard is bridging the gap between matches without losing momentum - with last month’s international break being followed by the defeats at West Ham and then Burnley.
Joe Thomas has the full story, here.
Frank Lampard faces Dominic Calvert-Lewin conundrum as Yerry Mina decision made at Everton
Frank Lampard could be faced with some interesting decisions around his Everton starting line-up despite his side's important 1-0 win over Manchester United on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues needed to put their recent defeats away to both West Ham United and Burnley firmly behind them, and they managed to do that at Goodison Park this weekend. Anthony Gordon's strike in the first half was the decisive goal, with the shot taking a heavy deflection off Harry Maguire before finding the back of the net.
The manager made a number of changes to his side on Saturday from the team that took on Sean Dyche's squad a few days previously - with four players coming in to change the balance of the side. But, could he be tempted to witch things up again next time out, despite his side earning an important three points?
Everton face a short break from action before taking on Leicester City on April 20th. This is down to their scheduled meeting with Crystal Palace being postponed thanks to the London club's involvement in the FA Cup semi final this weekend against Chelsea at Wembley.
Ten days without a match for the Blues could allow certain players to be allowed back to full fitness, with one of those being Yerry Mina . The Colombia international has been missing since the second match of Lampard's tenure, when he came off injured in the 3-1 defeat at Newcastle.
Adam Jones has the full story, here.
