Jordan Pickford was filmed swinging punches when a pub row in his native Sunderland erupted in the early hours of Monday morning.

The Everton and England goalkeeper, who had returned to Wearside on a day off, was barracked by Newcastle fans as he drank with his fiancee Megan Davison in the P's & Q's bar.

He was called 'small arms' and 'butterfingers', but there was no sign of trouble as he posed for photographs and playfully flicked V-signs at the man who was shouting at him.

Jordan Pickford said to be shown being dragged away from a street brawl in Sunderland

Incident took place hours after Sunderland had been beaten by Portsmouth in the EFL Trophy

A man resembling Pickford, 25, dressed in a white jumper was pulled away from the scene

Sunderland city centre was busy on Sunday night with lots of people drinking after the football

However, the situation turned ugly when Pickford moved on to another bar. This time his fiancee was the target of the abuse and, according to sources close to him, Pickford lost control and began trading punches as video footage, recorded on a mobile phone, showed him being pulled away from the bust-up.

He was eventually restrained by three men and led away. Nobody is believed to have been hurt in the incident but there is no question that Everton's head coach Marco Silva and England manager Gareth Southgate will be concerned about the episode.

Northumbria Police confirmed on Monday night that they are investigating the disturbance.

A source told Sportsmail: 'Someone verbally abused Jordan's partner and he flipped. He went for him but did not hit him and the video looks worse than it actually was. The whole thing was over in six or seven seconds.

'But there is no sugar-coating this, Jordan had been drinking and that probably didn't help in that he's reacted to the abuse. He is not happy that he got himself in that situation. Jordan had been mixing happily with fans before that and there was no issue until someone targeted his partner.'

A witness said: 'No one wants to see that kind of thing but it wasn't as bad as it may have looked. It was over in seconds.'

Pickford was back in Sunderland to celebrate Mother's Day with Megan, who recently gave birth to their first child, a little boy named Arlo.

Pickford had originally intended to stay in London following Everton's game at West Ham, so he could to go to Wembley to watch his old club Sunderland in the Checkatrade Trophy final.

Instead, he gave his tickets away in order to spend time with his family. The 25-year-old went out to watch the match with friends.

England ace Pickford, wearing a white jumper, posed for photographs with fans in Sunderland

Hi Jordan bro. Arms like a T-rex pic.twitter.com/NIsONgEnkb — Toad (@lukebambridge) March 31, 2019

Pickford scrapping with Newcastle fans last night, didn't land many punches on account of his little arms... pic.twitter.com/n8CusXGy9V — Rob Brodie (@robertbrodie) April 1, 2019

Pickford, who cost Everton £30million when he joined them in June 2017, became a household name this summer following his heroics in the penalty shootout against Colombia that sent England into the World Cup quarter-finals.

He returned to Merseyside after a short break and Everton rewarded his outstanding form by giving him a new six-year contract last October that made him one of the club's highest earners on terms estimated to be around £70,000 per week.

This, however, has been a difficult season for him in terms of his form. In December, he made a high-profile mistake in the Merseyside derby that led to Liverpool striker Divock Origi scoring a last-minute goal to snatch a 1-0 victory.

Daft Jordan Pickford hoying digs all owa🙃 pic.twitter.com/PFXRoVtIYi — dan graham (@DanGraham1892) April 1, 2019

Pickford in action for Everton during Saturday's 2-0 win at West Ham United's London Stadium

He immediately apologised for the error. Last month, an erratic performance at St James' Park saw him make a number of errors as Newcastle came from behind to beat Everton 3-2. He was subjected to abuse from Newcastle fans and argued with them when leaving the pitch.

Everton will decide what action to take after speaking to Pickford but they issued a brief statement on Monday night, though they did not name him directly.

It simply said: 'The club has been made aware of an alleged incident involving one of our players and we are looking into the matter.'

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: 'At 12:19am today, police received a report of a disturbance involving a large group of individuals on Tunstall Road, Sunderland. Enquiries are ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident and locate those involved.'