Frank Lampard breaks hand in Everton celebrations
Frank Lampard was happy to sacrifice a bone in his hand for the cause as Everton claimed a vital win against Newcastle United.
Everton manager Frank Lampard revealed he broke his hand celebrating his side's remarkable 1-0 win over Newcastle United on Thursday.
A hectic game lasted for 118 minutes due to a second-half delay when a protester attached himself to the Goodison Park goalposts and could not be removed.
Everton, coming into the match outside the Premier League's bottom three only on goal difference, then had to play from the 83rd minute onwards with 10 men.
Allan was initially only booked for hacking down Newcastle substitute Allan Saint-Maximin, but the VAR advised Craig Pawson to revisit his decision, which he did – prompting howls of frustration among home players, staff and fans when the replay was shown on the big screen.
Everton had been on the back foot with 11 men and appeared ready to sit in and settle for a precious point, only for one final chance to present itself.
Lampard breaks his hand
Seamus Coleman stole the ball from Saint-Maximin and fed Alex Iwobi, who traded passes with Dominic Calvert-Lewin before steering a low shot past Martin Dubravka for the second-latest winning goal since Opta's Premier League records began in 2006-07.
There were scenes of mass celebration both when the ball hit the net and when the final whistle belatedly blew, giving Everton their first win over Newcastle since December 2019 – albeit one that came at a cost for Lampard.
"I've broken my hand in the celebrations for the goal," Lampard told Amazon Prime, revealing a significant bruise. "It's a bit sore, a bit shaky, but I don’t care."
Everton's poor run
Prior to Thursday's win, Everton had earned only three points in six matches since Lampard's January appointment – more than Norwich City alone over that period. Newcastle's 16 points trailed only Liverpool.
"We were all waiting for this – a night of togetherness and fight and spirit," Lampard explained.
Indeed, rather than take credit for any calls he made in a game that saw Newcastle win the shot count 17-9 and dominate 61.6 per cent of the possession, the Toffees boss attributed the victory to a brilliant atmosphere on Merseyside.
I don't think it's my formations or cleverness that will keep us up," he said. "It's part of the bigger picture, but it's people and the players that will keep us up, and the fans when we get together.
"I thought the start of the game was a bit special. I know I'm new to this, an evening game at Goodison, but you could feel the crowd.
"Maybe they had a couple of pints of Guinness for St Patrick's Day. Fair play, we need that. We need them behind us.
"If we get out of this it's together, the fans and the players played their part."