Everton had nothing to play for on Sunday after securing their Premier League status on Thursday night.
The Blues travelled to north London on the final day of the season knowing they were safe and it showed in their performance, losing 5-1 to an Arsenal side that needed to win and Tottenham Hotspur to lose to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. With all the attention on the Gunners, the Toffees were a bystander on the day having been the focal point for the last week.
And here's how the national media reacted, along with our own Joe Thomas, to Everton's heavy but meaningless defeat at the Emirates.
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Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail wrote:
"On the final day of the season, Arsenal took out their frustrations out on Everton, who came into this encounter safe in the knowledge that they’ll be a Premier League team next season following Thursday’s epic comeback against Crystal Palace.
"This was one game too far for this Everton team; their cup final was five days ago. But Everton can’t endure another campaign like this, Lampard is already planning to ensure it doesn’t.
"'‘I’ll take a break now but I’ve already started looking at next season because we can’t stand still,' said Lampard. Indeed, you’d imagine Everton’s team will look significantly different come August."
Duncan Bech of the Independent wrote :
"Frank Lampard made six changes and beyond a lone strike by Donny van de Beek, they played like a team who had already checked out knowing their season had been saved.
"They were particularly vulnerable at corners with Arsenal engineering three of their five goals from the set-piece and they looked in danger of capitulating right from the start.
"Arsenal had lost the last three Premier League meetings between the rivals but as they poured forward with Bukayo Saka shooting high, that run looked certain to end."
Sam Cunningham of inews wrote :
"You couldn’t tell their team had just conceded a fifth goal of the afternoon. Nor that they had embarked on a 400-mile roundtrip for the occasion. Everton’s supporters had just watched their team cap off a miserable season, in which they flirted with relegation, with a thrashing at the Emirates. Yet shortly after the fifth goal flew in, the blue strip of the stadium erupted into the loudest cheer of the game as word reached smartphones that Manchester City had come from two goals down against Aston Villa to take the lead.
"And the celebrations were louder still after the final whistle, when they discovered bitter city rivals Liverpool had been pipped to the Premier League title, prevented from attaining a domestic treble and ending the possibility of an unprecedented quadruple with the Champions League final still to play this weekend.
"In truth, it was a match that was really all about what was happening elsewhere. Everton had already secured Premier League survival in their penultimate game, but their supporters were glued to results across the country that, until City’s dramatic late three goals, were pointing towards a Liverpool title."
Joe Krishnan of the Mirror wrote :
"Frank Lampard may not be able to see the reoccurring problems that are dogging his Everton side, but it is obvious to most outside of the club that the manager needs some help in improving their defensive ways. Too many times this season, Everton have made the same mistakes which has caused them to concede 25 goals in their nine away games under Lamaprd and force them to pull off miraculous turnarounds just to salvage points.
"Lampard knows that cannot be the case next season if he is still avoid another nerve-wracking relegation fight, and perhaps a top defensive coach is required to help point out where they are going wrong. Perhaps his old friend John Terry may be willing to help?
"And yet, there were two self-inflicted goals they conceded against Arsenal. The first was an individual error from Iwobi, a moment of madness. The second was systematic, an issue that comes with marking zonally from corner routines. If you do not mark man for man, you are already fighting a losing battle against the players that get a free jump. And that is exactly what happened when Arsenal, renowned as set-piece experts, crowded the front post and won two headers before an Everton player did."
Joe Thomas of the Echo wrote:
"The result of Everton's remarkable heroics against Crystal Palace was that the final day of this long, traumatic season meant next to nothing. Yes, there were some meaningful narratives - Dele Alli made his first start since becoming a Blue, Tom Davies sealed his remarkable fight back from injury by starting, and Cenk Tosun and Donny van de Beek featured in a matchday squad for what will almost certainly be the last time. This was also the last outing for Everton in Cazoo-branded kit, with a new sponsor set to be announced over the summer.
"But in truth, as the sun shone on the Emirates, there was little riding on this game for the visitors. And the relief among the thousands who still made the journey was obvious. The fear and anxiety was gone. The tension had disappeared from the faces of the dedicated travelling support. It was no longer a feature of their conversations - the talk among those on the train south was of the individual memories of Thursday's collective celebrations, not of final day permutations and whether Newcastle United or Brentford could 'do Everton a favour'.
"The importance of Everton having already secured their Premier League status could not have been made any clearer by the 90 minutes that played out in north London. For weeks the talk among agony-ridden Blues has been of an insistence the season could not go down to the final game. They were right."
