Frank Lampard hopes assisting Everton’s stoppage-time winner against Newcastle United will do Dominic Calvert-Lewin the ‘biggest favour’ to improve, speaking to Amazon Prime.
The Toffees snatched victory in the 99th-minute at Goodison Park on Thursday night when Alex Iwobi broke the deadlock. The Nigerian forward had only hit one Premier League goal so far this season before facing the Magpies. His previous effort also came on November 1.
Calvert-Lewin has also struggled for form since the striker’s return from a lengthy spell out with a quadriceps injury. The 25-year-old is yet to score since August as the blow kept him from 15 games. He also missed one through illness and another through an adductor issue.
Lampard opted to only recall Calvert-Lewin from his illness off the bench as Everton hosted Newcastle in midweek. The forward was the Toffees’ first change of the meeting, replacing Demarai Gary with quarter-of-an-hour of regular time remaining while still locked at nil-nil.
But a ‘Just Stop Oil’ protestor invading the pitch delayed the game for six minutes, so Craig Pawson had to add time on. And Everton used the extra period to good effect for just their second Premier League win under Lampard so far, and end a run of four straight defeats.
Frank Lampard hopes Everton assist does Dominic Calvert-Lewin ‘biggest favour’
Everton failed to score at all during any of their defeats to Southampton, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur or Wolves. But Calvert-Lewin, Iwobi and Seamus Coleman connected late to record their first effort since beating Leeds United 3-0 at Goodison on February 12.
Despite playing with 10-men after Pawson sent Allan off, the Toffees dug in to score deep into stoppage-time. Coleman pipped Allan Saint-Maximin to the ball near the halfway line from Jonjo Shelvey’s attempted pass, with the Blues captain starting the goalscoring move.
He then fed Iwobi, whose first touch took the ball around Dan Burn before a one-two with Calvert-Lewin left the £34m Everton ace one-on-one with Martin Dubravka in Newcastle’s goal to score. Stroking the ball into the far bottom corner to secure a crucial three points.
Lampard hopes assisting Iwobi’s goal against Newcastle now helps Calvert-Lewin to turn a corner, as the striker is crucial to Everton avoiding a shock relegation from the top-flight.
“There is a lot of talk about Dominic and being involved in that goal will do him the biggest favour,” Lampard said. “It will, hopefully, be the catalyst for him. We need a fit and firing Dom to help this team.”
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