Everton have two-season hope if Frank Lampard can learn David Moyes lesson

Everton aren’t just fighting to remain in the Premier League but to avoid the ignominy of suffering the lowest equivalent points per game total in the club’s history. Based on the three points for a win system first implemented in 1981, the Blues have never had a season where they averaged less than a point per game but with just 25 points from 27 matches so far this term, Frank Lampard’s side must increase this ratio over their final 11 fixtures in order to ensure this campaign does not end up as Everton’s worst ever in the top flight.

Along with the obvious huge incentive not to suffer relegation, the highlighting of such facts should provide an added incentive for what remains a considerably-talented but under-achieving group of players at Goodison Park. Here’s a look back at Everton’s worst 10 seasons in terms of points per game, a ‘Hall of Shame’ that the current crop should learn from and seek to avoid joining.

Position: 20th

Record: P42 W12 D12 L18 F57 A55 Pts 36

Equivalent points total, based on three points for a win averaged over a 38-game season = 43

Everton actually started the campaign in fine style with a 5-0 thrashing of Manchester United and despite their lowly status, ended up with a positive goal difference with Huddersfield Town also thrashed 6-2 at Goodison on Good Friday, a match that saw Sam Chedgzoy and Bobby Irvine both score hat-tricks. The Blues went into the campaign without Bobby Parker though, their once prolific marksman who was a shadow of his former self having returned from the First World War with a bullet lodged in his back and been sold on to Nottingham Forest.

An 11-game winless streak from October 22 to Christmas Eve – broken with a 2-1 home victory over Sunderland on Boxing Day –