Everton thrashed by Brighton as pressure intensifies on Frank Lampard

A new year brought no change in fortune for beleaguered Everton manager Frank Lampard as Goodison Park turned toxic after Brighton recorded their biggest away win – 4-1 – in the Premier League.

Any sliver of confidence gained from the weekend’s creditable draw at Manchester City was shattered by a performance lacking guts and guile and justifiably greeted with loud boos.

It was typified by a catastrophic seven-minute spell at the start of the second half in which they conceded three soft goals to 18-year-old Evan Ferguson, Solly March and Pascal Gross to add to Kaoru Mitoma’s early first-half strike.

Demarai Gray’s added-time penalty consolation merely prompted yet more chants of ‘Sack the board’.

For the second successive home match the Toffees were booed off as a pivotal month in which they are required to, at the very least, beat fellow strugglers Southampton and West Ham and make some new signings began in the worst possible fashion.

One win and seven defeats in the last 10 matches have left Everton teetering on the edge of the relegation zone and Lampard under severe pressure four weeks away from his first anniversary at the club.

There are no such concerns for Brighton, whose enforced change of manager just six weeks into the season has barely affected them as Graham Potter’s replacement Roberto De Zerbi has guided them to eighth in the table, with this a club-record third successive away win.

The Seagulls were everything Everton are not: organised, fast, incisive and clinical and while the return of Moises Caicedo from suspension made a significant difference in midfield, De Zerbi could afford to leave World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister on the bench for an hour.

Everton had conceded at least one goal in the