Frank Lampard turns attention to building squad after Everton avoid relegation

Everton manager Frank Lampard will immediately turn his attention to making his squad better and more balanced as he knows without that they could find themselves battling relegation again.

The Toffees escaped losing their top-flight status for the first time in 71 years with a dramatic 3-2 win over Crystal Palace on Thursday which secured their future after a season of struggles.

But despite the wild scenes at the final whistle, Lampard is well aware the reason they were in such a mess was down to poor performances, and he is keen to address that through recruitment and retention.

“It has obviously been second on the list of priorities because we had to get this (avoiding relegation) done,” he said.

“Now we will quickly continue to think about that because we have to take the club forward. We have to improve. I have to improve.

“I didn’t have a pre-season and now I and my staff do. Can we make the squad stronger and more balanced? I believe we can, and there will be things we will look at and it is important that we look at them quickly.

“We have Kevin Thelwell (the new director of football) now, we have the board who are interested in getting the best out of the club.

“We don’t want to be here next season, but we understand if we don’t make positive moves it could be possible, so we will be ready to move on that quickly.”

Six players – two back-up goalkeepers Asmir Begovic and Andy Lonergan, defender Jonjoe Kenny, midfielder Fabian Delph and forwards Cenk Tosun and Gylfi Sigurdsson – are all out of contract in the summer.

Of those Everton may want to try to keep Begovic and Delph, for whom deals would be relatively inexpensive to do, but the squad needs an injection of fresh blood.

Dele Alli’s appearance for the second