Frank Lampard believes Aleksandar Mitrovic should have been sent off as he questioned VAR for once again ruling against Everton.
The Blues boss said he was "really surprised" the Fulham striker was allowed to remain on the pitch after his late lunge on Idrissa Gueye. Had he been shown a red card the face of the game would have changed with the hosts reduced to 10 men for an hour.
Instead Mitrovic remained a constant threat - having 10 shots in total - as Fulham pushed for a winner they were unable to find at Craven Cottage. Speaking after the game, Lampard was lukewarm about his side's performance but pointed to the decision that could have swung the game in Everton's favour.
Mitrovic caught Gueye on the ankle in an ugly centre circle challenge after 25 minutes. Referee John Brooks handed the attacker a yellow card but the incident did go to VAR. The ECHO understands the booking was not upgraded to a red because it lacked intensity. When considering the call, Lampard pointed to the contentious red card handed to Allan when Everton played Newcastle United last season. In that case the Everton midfielder's punishment was upgraded from a yellow to red card after the intervention of VAR.
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Lampard said: "It was a red card for Mitrovic, I have nothing against him but he knew, he put his arm up straight away. VAR is there to deal with these things. Last year our midfielder Allan got a yellow, it was upgraded to red and he got a four-game ban. It was nowhere near as forceful as that one tonight. It was a red card and we haven't had those decisions this year."
He added: "I thought it was a red card. The parameters of what they are are false. Was it above the ankle? Yeah. It was a kind of stampy tackle. I think to be fair to Mitrovic he put his hand up straight away, I think he knew. We have all been there to a degree so there's no slant against him, it's just a red card with the benefit of VAR. I was really surprised we didn't get given it, really surprised."
On the performance in general, Lampard was pleased with the resilience of his team but expressed frustration over a display in which Everton created chances - and ended the recent run of two away games without a shot on target - but also failed to maintain their intensity into the second half.
He said: "I thought we could have been better. It'll be a game to analyse back because there was some really good resilience and defending when we had to defend, but I felt we were a bit off from what we could have been... There's a different feel to us [this season] in terms of how we travel on the road. We can be a lot better, but we have seen progress and that's a positive."
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