Frank Lampard ‘expecting everyone together fighting’ when Everton face Newcastle

Frank Lampard believes the mentality of players and fans alike will be crucial in turning Everton’s season around and avoiding relegation.

Everton go into Thursday’s fixture against Newcastle outside the bottom three on goal difference alone, albeit with three games in hand on 18th-placed Watford, with Lampard having overseen only one league victory since taking over at the end of January.

The creeping sense of gloom deepened with Sunday’s 1-0 home defeat to Wolves – a result which prompted Lampard to express surprise at the “instant negativity” which can follow setbacks at Goodison Park – and he wants to see a different mood this week.

“I think if you walk around in fear of (relegation) happening there’s a good chance you’re adding to the chances it may happen,” he said.

“It’s not the time for lies or to change the story. We know where we’re at. But we’ve also seen this club stay up on the last day of the season a couple of times. It’s nothing that’s absolutely new.

“Nerves creep in, that’s human nature, but for us it’s not about what might be but what we can action, what we can deal with, and that’s the 12 games in front of us.”

Lampard, who is waiting to learn whether or not striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin can return from illness on Thursday, rejected Jamie Carragher’s assertion on Monday Night Football that Everton’s players had been an “absolute disgrace” while challenging them to answer their critics.

“Tomorrow we’re expecting everyone together fighting,” he said. “Every game is so important, there are 12 of them left and they’re massive. At Goodison we want to be together. I want the players to start well, we have to engage the fans and when we do that together we’re a force.

“It’s the players’ job to answer on the