Everton have been on a poor run in the Premier League dating back to the start of October and that run led to the dismissal of manager Rafael Benitez who was appointed into the role last summer. A lot of Everton fans were not in support of the appointment due to his status as a Liverpool legend who won two major titles for the Reds while he was their manager over a decade ago. The Everton fans were delighted to see the back of Benitez after a poor run of one win in 13 league matches.

Duncan Ferguson is a club legend at Everton and he was asked to take charge of the 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa in what was his second spell as the interim Toffees manager. The interim tenure of Big Duncan as he's popularly called on Merseyside ushered in the appointment of Chelsea legend Frank Lampard as the Everton manager.

In his first game as the Everton manager, Lampard led the Merseyside club to the fifth round of the FA Cup via the 4-1 home win over West London side Brentford in their fourth round tie. Everton will now face non-league team Boreham Wood in the fifth round for a place in the quarterfinals of the competition.

In Premier League terms, Lampard began his Everton reign with a 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United who had Slovakia shot stopper Martin Dubravka in goal. The Newcastle United goals were scored by Mason Holgate (own goal), Ryan Fraser and new signing Kieran Trippier who struck his first goal for the club via a free-kick. The Everton goal was scored by Newcastle United skipper Jamaal Lascelles who put the ball past Slovakia international Dubravka in goal. Slovakia goalkeeper Dubravka is the first choice in his position at Newcastle United.