PL: Everton on brink of relegation zone after 3-2 defeat to Burnley

Frank Lampard’s Everton edged dangerously close to the Premier League relegation zone after Burnley stunned the Merseyside outfit in a 3-2 victory on Wednesday.

The tie between the relegation-threatened sides was a wild, end-to-end one that saw Burnley open the scoring in the 12th minute through a headed goal by Nathan Collins from a corner, which marked their first goal in the last five games.

However, mistakes by the Burnley defence helped Everton back into the game: the Clarets conceded a penalty in the 11th minute, courtesy of a foul by Ashley Westwood on Anthony Gordon, and the spot-kick was expertly dispatched by Everton’s Brazilian forward Richarlison to level the game.

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As the clock ticked down towards half-time, Vitaliy Mykolenko was brought down in the Burnley box by Aaron Lennon, and after a brief pause to look at the VAR screen, referee Mike Dean awarded a penalty to Everton.

Richarlison stepped up again to dispatch the spot-kick, and the first half ended 2-1 in favour of the away side.

The second-half began with some end-to-end action, and despite chances falling both ways, it was the Clarets who got the much needed goal in the 57th minute when Charlie Taylor found himself in space in the Everton box and smashed a shot across goal that was tapped in by Jay Rodriguez.

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As the game crossed the 60 minute mark, chances fell both ways, but it was Burnley who got the decisive goal of the game with minutes left on the clock: Matej Vydra found Maxwel Cornet in the 87th minute, and the Ivorian forward smashed the ball into the back of the net to seal a massive win for the Clarets.

It was a sixth straight away defeat in the league for financially stricken Everton, which has an extremely tough run of games to finish the season. The Merseyside club’s next four opponents in the league, for example, are Manchester United, Leicester, Liverpool, and Chelsea.

Frank Lampard might now by fighting for his job, having only taken over as Everton’s manager at the start of February.

[With inputs from the Associated Press]