Michael Keane calls for fans to ‘get right behind’ Everton ahead of Leeds game

Michael Keane has called for Everton fans to ‘get right behind’ their team this weekend as they host Leeds in a crucial Premier League clash.

The Toffees lost 3-1 at Newcastle in disappointing fashion midweek - their fourth league defeat in a row - but will look to replicate the FA Cup performance that swept aside Brentford 4-1 last weekend.

Speaking to Evertontv, the Blues centre-back made a rallying call to the Goodison faithful to get the place rocking and get behind the team.

Keane said: "It is vital we harness the atmosphere.

"When Goodison was like it was in the FA Cup game against Brentford, it’s a really difficult place for away teams to come.

"We know the fans will be disappointed by this [Newcastle loss] but we need them to get right behind us at the weekend because it’s a huge game.

"Leeds are a good team in their own right - they play a different kind of football and we’ll have to make sure we’re ready for that but with Goodison behind us it makes a hell of a difference."

Lampard calls on players to engage the fans

Everton manager Frank Lampard has also been speaking to Evertontv during the build up to the weekend.

He backed Keane’s rallying call but added that the players need to engage the fans with their energy and commitment on the pitch.

He said: “It’s important for the players to engage the fans, they will be there to back us.

“They understand the position we’re in and they know we need them.

“The players have to perform with the same attitude and approach as they did against Brentford at Goodison. I’m confident they will.

“It will be a tough match. It’s still early days for us as a group and we will work hard to put the Newcastle right.”

Lampard and Bielsa have history

While this is only Lampard’s third game in charge of Everton, he has had plenty of experience opposing Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa - and the two share a short but fractious history.

The former Chelsea midfielder’s first season in management - at Derby County - was dominated by the ‘spy-gate’ controversy and intensified by a dramatic play-off semi-final clash with the West Yorkshire side.

One of Bielsa’s employees was caught watching a Derby training session from a public pathway just outside their Moor Farm training centre - police attended the incident but found there to be no break in and no laws broken, although they asked the man to leave.

The stunt cost Leeds United a fine of £200,000 - a sum which Bielsa insisted he pay personally - and called into question the Argentinian’s ethical boundaries.

It also compelled the Leeds manager to deliver one of the most extraordinary press conferences in recent history, speaking uninterrupted for over an hour and laying his unbelievably vast analytical machine on the table for all to see.

Leeds won the game that followed spy-gate and won three of the four meetings between the two clubs throughout the season.

It was Lampard and Derby, however, who had the last laugh that season when they won 4-2 at Elland Road in one of the most dramatic play-off semi-final games in recent years.

The two managers met briefly in the Premier League last season, with Lampard’s far-superior Chelsea cruising to a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge.