Frank Lampard is on the brink of losing his job at Everton after extending their miserable form with a dismal 2-0 loss at West Ham.
Jarrod Bowen scored twice in the first half to inflict Lampard’s sixth defeat in seven Premier League fixtures, leaving Everton 19th in the table and only above Southampton on goal difference.
Ominously, the one-sided loss at the London Stadium was watched by Everton owner Farhad Moshiri – the first time he has been present since October 2021 – and the Iranian offered his manager no public reassurances in the wake of a poor performance against their relegation rivals.
When Moshiri was asked about Lampard’s future, he would only say cryptically: ‘I can’t comment – it is not my decision.’
Chairman Bill Kenwright was also asked by Sky Sports about Lampard’s future and said: ‘It has been a bad run of results for us all and for Frank but I would never say that to you, ever.
‘We have to start winning haven’t we. Bad time.’
Moshiri left London without speaking to Lampard, though he will have to balance keeping faith with the former England manager against strong urges for a major change, especially with fixtures versus Arsenal and Liverpool next on their schedule. With sources indicating a win was essential for Lampard in the clash with West Ham, his prospects appear bleak.
Lampard chose not to analyse the meaning of Moshiri’s presence, though he confirmed he was aware he would be at the game, which had been branded ‘El Sackico’ because of the jeopardy also facing West Ham manager David Moyes.
Lampard said: ‘It has never been a consequence for me whether an owner or chairman or board member are at the game. I spent 18 months at Chelsea when the owner didn’t come to one competitive game. You can read into it what you want but it is not a relevant thing for me.’
He added: ‘It would hard for me to sit here and talk about the right direction because of the recent results. We stayed up by the skin of our teeth last year and were five points shy of safety with not many games to go. I’ve said that we might stay where we are and was questioned whether that is competitive enough talk.
‘But for me, if you are in a club where the club has moved downwards with serious investment, the conditions now are that we don’t have that investment and we sold our No 9 and we are trying to rebuild. That doesn’t mean straight away you start climbing stairs. It means you have to dig in as a club and I’m prepared to dig in.’
The win was hugely significant for Moyes, whose side had lost six of their previous seven, with sources anticipating a change in the event of defeat. Ultimately they secured a comfortable win over Moyes’s former club.
He said: ‘I think it’s a relief to the whole club. We all want to win, the club itself and everybody in the club, and it was a big result for everyone connected with the club. I have to say, the players earned it, they recognise the situation they are in and we are working to get the club away from where we are.’
Asked about the pressure on himself and Lampard, and by extension the speculation around their futures, Moyes said: ‘I have to say, I think probably the biggest strength I’ve had is I’ve had a board behind me who have been really supportive, have backed me, maybe made it a lot easier.
‘If it was different, you would maybe ask me a different question, but I still believe there are some things the board don’t want to do: they don’t want to make any changes so I had great confidence. I also believed that I would win today.
‘I thought Danny Ings’ introduction yesterday as well gave us all a little bit of a good feeling that things could change and for that, it worked out well. But also my experience as well has got me to the stage where I am saying “Okay, these things can happen”.
‘I’m quite cool about the thing but obviously inside, I’m obviously wanting to win because I’m so disappointed that I’ve not been able to win for the past seven games or whatever it’s been now.’
