Lampard Returns to Everton as Coventry Look to Climb
Coventry City can move up to 11th in the Premier League with a win at Everton on Friday. A victory would also lift them to 12 points, level with Bournemouth in eighth. For Frank Lampard, it is a return to a club he managed for a year from January 2022, and his first time in the opposition dugout there since he left in January 2023.
Coventry are in their first season back in the top flight for 25 years, and their start was hard. They lost their first four games without scoring, against Arsenal, Hull City, Manchester City and Brighton. The Brighton defeat stung most. Coventry lost 5-0 at home after Taiwo Awoniyi was sent off, and they spent almost 45 minutes with ten men.
The mood has changed since then. Coventry beat Sunderland 3-1 on Saturday, and three wins in five games lifted them out of the relegation zone, the three places at the bottom of the table that go down to the second tier. Coventry were last season's Championship winners, so this is a side that knows how to pick up points.
Lampard's changes have helped. After a 3-1 League Cup defeat by Aston Villa, he switched his system to match Nottingham Forest's back three, meaning three centre-backs. Coventry then won 1-0 at the City Ground. Lampard said he would "like to think there is a higher ceiling" for the team, which is his way of saying he believes there is more to come.
Everton are a different test. David Moyes has faced Coventry as a manager on three occasions, while Lampard has faced Everton as a manager three times, winning once and losing twice. This is also the first time the two clubs have met in the top flight in more than 25 years, according to Everton's own fixture announcement.
When Lampard took the Coventry job in late November 2024, the club was in the Championship and he said he was ready to prove his doubters wrong. Two years on, he is in charge of a Premier League side and about to face the club that once employed him.
For neutral fans, the appeal is simple. A club that lost its first four league games without a goal is now close to the middle of the table. A win at Everton on Friday would be a strong step in that story.
