Frank Lampard has claimed Everton were denied a penalty in their defeat to Liverpool.
Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Anfield coupled with Burnley’s win over Wolves earlier in the day plunged Lampard’s side into the Premier League’s relegation zone.
But Lampard felt the game could have changed when Anthony Gordon went down in the penalty area after being challenged by Reds defender Joel Matip.
Referee Stuart Attwell refused to point to the spot and had previously booked the homegrown midfielder early in the first half for apparent simulation.
Gordon expressed his own disbelief at the Matip incident by sharing footage of it post-match on social media with two accompanying facepalm emojis.
Lampard, too, believes that the 21-year-old had been harshly punished by the challenge, which was not referred to VAR, against Everton’s local rivals.
He said: “It is a penalty for me. You don’t get them here.
“If that was Mo Salah at the other end he gets a penalty.
“I’m not trying to create conflict; it’s just the reality of football. I have played in teams in the top half of the league – you get them.
“That was a penalty for sure. It’s a clear foul.”
Reflecting on his side’s overall display, the Everton manager admitted that there were positives to be taken from their largely dogged performance.
“It was a good performance against a difficult opponent,” added Lampard.
“You have seen their recent games – we had to have a plan to stop them getting space and for 60 minutes we did that as well as you can.
“We did it with great discipline and created the best chances until that point.
“But a moment of brilliance from Mo Salah and an overhead kick [from Luis Díaz to set up the second goal] are difficult to combat.”