Everton crossed the line into the Premier League’s danger zone on Sunday and now stand on the precipice after a painful Merseyside derby defeat at Liverpool.
They are in the bottom three for the first time since December 2019 but more significantly it is the first time the club have been where no-one wants to be so late in the season since 1998-99.
And for all manager Frank Lampard can take from attitude and organisation even in defeat at Anfield, there is no escaping that the threat of relegation for the first time in 71 years is no longer a lingering fear, it is Everton’s grim reality.
They gave it so much for so long before going down 2-0, their meagre share of 17% possession (the second lowest since Opta starting compiling such statistics) reflecting the rearguard action carried out with such fierce discipline and an open willingness to get under Liverpool and Anfield’s skin.
It worked until Andrew Robertson headed the home side in front just after the hour before Everton’s long-time tormentor Divock Origi headed the second late on.
Everton, as in the past, left Anfield nursing a sense of injustice as well as defeat as they justifiably claimed they should have had a penalty when the outstanding Anthony Gordon fell under Joel Matip’s challenge with the scoreline goalless after 53 minutes.
Gordon had been booked for diving in the first half so this may have played on referee Stuart Attwell’s mind when he waved all appeals away but each incident should be judged on its individual merits, not recent history, and Everton were suitably astonished that the video assistant referee was not even called in to take a look. They had a cast-iron case.
To suggest this might have led to an Everton victory is quite the stretch given Liverpool’s dominance of the ball but it does not disguise the fact they had a genuine grievance.
It matters not now as the points have gone, with Everton suffering their 19th Premier League defeat in 32 games. They have never lost so many in a 38-game season and to add to the statistical wreckage, they have also lost 11 of their past 12 away games in the league, including each of their past seven. It is their worst run of consecutive away defeats since eight between April and October 1994.
All this was conducted to a predictable soundtrack of Anfield revelling in Everton’s potential demise, the chants of “going down” starting as soon as news of Burnley’s win over Wolves a little earlier filtered through.
It was repeated throughout, along with regular songs in praise of former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who played a brief part in Everton’s dismal season before he was sacked in January after less than seven months in charge.
And, with victory assured, came the final wounding chant of “this is your last trip to Anfield”.
This was a grim, tortuous experience for Everton once the Kop were confident nothing would go wrong.
Everton can take solace in how they made Liverpool fight for their win, how they gave the Anfield crowd some very anxious moments, how the emerging talent of Gordon occasionally tormented Liverpool with his pace and control.
