Frank Lampard was injured while celebrating Alex Iwobi’s 99th-minute goal as 10-man Everton opened up a three-point lead over the relegation zone with a priceless first Premier League win in five games.
Allan’s red card in the 83rd minute appeared to have ended any hopes of a victory, but Alex Iwobi seized the opportunity with an angled drive nine minutes into the extra 14 minutes, which were added on primarily due to the VAR review of the red card and a protester who tied himself to a goalpost.
Everton’s third Premier League victory since September moved them three points clear of 18th-placed Watford, who have played two more games. Lampard then attempted to explain what had happened to his hand.
“I’m not sure, I did it during the goal celebrations. I think I just connected with something and realized two minutes later that my hand was shaking and achy – but I’ll take the three points “said the manager of the Toffees.
When asked how many more broken bones he was willing to endure until the end of the season, he replied: “If they want, they can take one every game. This game is special, and it hasn’t felt that way for us in a while.”
Lampard was naturally overjoyed with the victory but enraged by the red card decision.
“It’s not a red card,” he explained. Mr Newcastle, Alan Shearer, just said so, and the frustrating thing for us is that we had the most blatant one of the season against Man City (a penalty not given for handball).” The referee makes a mistake, we get an apology, and this time the referee sees it, he shows a yellow card. Did he put the player’s life in danger by kicking him in the foot?
“Allan is now out for three games.” Because of decisions like tonight’s, the system is broken. “VAR has failed us twice now.”
With 11 games remaining, Everton has plenty of chances to pull ahead.
“It was a big night for us the whole evening.” But nothing is being done. “We were all looking forward to this night of togetherness, fight, and spirit,” Lampard added.
“Against all odds, we got what we deserved.” It blew up in the technical area. It’s difficult to be a man down. Can we hold out? You make a valid point. “Can we have one more chance?”
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said his team paid the price for poor final-third decisions and failing to capitalize on Everton’s red card.
“We didn’t have a great second half, and that’s what cost us the game,” he said.
“We were good in the first half, we controlled the game, and the only thing we lacked was a goal.” For us, that meant missing the entire game. We got into some good positions, but there was no normal rhythm.
“It (Allan’s send-off) gives you a big advantage, and we didn’t take advantage of it.” We did not carry out the plan as planned.”
