Everton manager Frank Lampard is confident ‘anything is possible’ if his relegation-threatened side continue to put up the mettle which saw them seize a late point in a 1-1 draw at home to Leicester.
Richarlison snagged the equaliser, and his 50th for the club, in the second minute of additional time after the visitors failed to add to Harvey Barnes’ fifth-minute opener. For the Toffees this was the first time since October they had recorded unbeaten back-to-back Premier League matches, having beaten Manchester United prior to this, and moved them four points above 18th-placed Burnley.
Lampard has chosen to focus on the positives although they could still be in the bottom three when they arrive at Anfield on Sunday afternoon for the Merseyside derby as Burnley have home games against Southampton and Wolves.
‘A late goal that gets you a draw feels a real positive,’ he said.
‘That is something we want to change. As the chances were coming and going towards the end of the game – Seamus (Coleman) has a good chance, Richy (Richarlison) had a good chance – you worry.
‘Something we haven’t been able to do well enough in my time here is draw games when we are either are not playing as well as we should do – I think that was the case in the first half but not the second – and other games recently against West Ham and Burnley where are performances were good and we got nothing.
‘As long as we stay in games and keep fighting in games then anything is possible.
‘It’s a small run but it is the bounce of coming off a good result against Manchester United to get another point on the board.
‘It can be an easy thing to throw at the players that they lack spirit or desire and they certainly don’t.
‘We are not in a time for pretty patterns and an idea of our philosophy for the next two or three years, the first phase is can we fight or show character to stay in this league and they showed that tonight.’
As for Leicester, boss Brendan Rodgers felt the only thing lacking from the display was a cutting edge to seal the performance.
‘I thought performance-wise we were excellent,’ he said.
‘Once we get into the second half we just need a wee bit more composure in the final third of the pitch to close the game out.
‘At 1-0 you always have to go right to the end and unfortunately just at the end we conceded the goal.
‘You think of the great result Everton had here 11 days ago (beating Manchester United); this is our fourth game in that period.
‘The level the players played at was a really high level. Overall, I’m delighted with how we played.’