Paul Wilson’s match report from Anfield:
FULL TIME: Liverpool 3-1 Everton
Liverpool do the double over their Merseyside rivals! They’re deserved winners of a game which threatened to boil over once or twice, but in the end didn’t. It’s three wins out of three in the derby for Jurgen Klopp, who will be happy with his team’s performance, but worried about Sadio Mane’s fitness. And so Everton’s barren run at Anfield goes on. Still no win here since 1999.
90 min +3: Everton have the ball, but Liverpool are sitting back, and there’s no way through.
90 min +2: Mirallas dribbles with purpose down the left, but eventually runs out of room.
90 min +1: There will be four added minutes. Most of the first is used up by Williams, as he slowly walks to the touchline after his medical moment.
90 min: Williams is down in his own area. While he’s getting treatment, Firmino is replaced by Klavan.
88 min: Lukaku works a little space down the inside-right channel, but his cross into the area - populated by more blue shirts than red - floats harmlessly out to the left of goal. Frustration furrows his brow.
87 min: Mirallas turns Milner easily in the midfield, glides past a static Matip, and drifts out to the right. For a second, it looks like he’s going to score a goal not unlike Mane’s early opener, but upon reaching the right-hand side of the Liverpool D, he blasts wildly over the bar.
85 min: Alexander-Arnold is not short of confidence. Wijnaldum finds him on the edge of the Everton area, and the young man attempts a curler into the top right. Robles claims it easily enough.
83 min: Wijnaldum makes good down the left and crosses low. Barkley intercepts with Alexander-Arnold and Origi in attendance. He opts to dribble across his own box, and is dispossessed by a Peter Beardsleyesque tackle from behind. Pocket picked. Origi can’t subsequently work the space to shoot, mind, but that was impressive persistence.
82 min: Calvert-Lewin is replaced by Mirallas.
80 min: Can should send the ambitious Alexander-Arnold clean through on goal, but his misplaced pass allows Williams to intercept. Then Clyne goes on a romp down the right, but his decent low cross, trundling along the corridor of uncertainty, is snaffled well by Robles with Origi lurking.
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79 min: A hesitant Matip opts to leave a long ball sent down the middle, and very nearly lets Lukaku in on goal. Fortunately for the Liverpool defender, Lovren is on hand to hack away from trouble.
77 min: Can turns into space down the right, reaches the byline and pulls a ball back for Alexander-Arnold. The pass is a little behind the marauding full back, but he digs out a shot anyway, scooping a strange effort across Robles and towards the top left. The keeper claws it out of the air, a fine save, even if the whole thing was played out in trippy slow-mo.
76 min: Wijnaldum romps down the left into acres, and sets up Origi on the edge of the Everton D. The striker should belt one goalwards, but hesitates and the chance is gone.
74 min: The free kick is cleared by Matip. And then a slightly surprising substitution by Klopp, who removes Coutinho in favour of Alexander-Arnold. Recognition that Everton have been on the front foot for a while.
72 min: Barkley is bossing the midfield right now. He sprays a pass wide right towards Holgate, whose fierce cross is deliberately top-armed by Milner, to the right of the Liverpool area. Free kick in a dangerous position. No booking, strangely. The referee is all over the shop today.
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69 min: Everton come very close to halving the deficit. Holgate has a blast from distance on the right. Mignolet, having gone down early, somehow manages to claw it away from danger. Baines recycles the ball on the left, and sends in a cross which Barry somehow heads over from close range. This is far from over.
68 min: Can is booked for a studs-up lunge on Gueye. He’s saved a red card by pulling out of the challenge at the very last second. This game should never have got so ugly.
67 min: Everton make a double change. Davies is replaced by Valencia, while Barry comes on for the goalscorer Pennington.
65 min: A lengthy stoppage, but Can’s finally up and about, and looks like he’ll be able to continue.
62 min: Williams faffs about in the midfield. He takes a heavy touch and chases after the ball, studs up. He clatters into Can, and that’s a booking. Can looks in real agony here, with stud marks across his knee.
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GOAL! Liverpool 3-1 Everton (Origi 60)
This was way too simple. Coutinho shimmies in from the left, draws Williams and slips the ball inside for Origi. The sub takes a stride towards the box and lashes a shot into the top left. Robles had charged out to the edge of the area, which was a strange decision. Everton have not defended well today.
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59 min: Origi dribbles in from the left wing and looks to curl an ambitious one into the top right. Nope.
58 min: Liverpool look a bit rattled by the Mane injury, and Everton are enjoying the lion’s share right now. Barkley Gazzas his way from left to right across the front of the Liverpool box. He slips the ball wide right to Holgate, who should find Lukaku free in the middle, six yards out. But the cross isn’t any good.
56 min: Liverpool will hope that’s not too serious, but that could be an ankle-ligament job. Mane limps off down the tunnel. Origi will come on. In the meantime, Barkley has a whack from distance; his shot balloons off a red shirt and threatens to squirm into the top right, but Mignolet is behind it and able to gather.
54 min: A worry for Liverpool here as Mane twists his ankle while challenging with the innocent Baines. He goes down and receives lengthy treatment. He tries to limp off, with a view to playing on, but falls again before he can leave the pitch. He’ll not continue.
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51 min: Barkley slips over in the midfield, but earns a free kick because Can plants a boot on his arm. Like Williams earlier on, that was daft and asking for trouble, but it’s nothing more than a free kick that goes nowhere. The referee’s been a bit laissez-faire today.
50 min: A pleasing end-to-end start to this second half. Everton force a corner down the right. Barkley’s delivery is cleared by Milner. Good luck guessing which team scores next.
49 min: But Everton are still looking shaky at the back themselves. Can dribbles in from the left and gets a shot away from the edge of the area. It’s blocked by Williams. On another day, Coutinho is slapping the rebound home from six yards, but it sticks under his feet. Everton clear.
48 min: A free kick for Everton down the left. Barkley floats it to the far post. Williams tries to guide it back across the face of goal with a telescopic leg, but the ball’s too near Mignolet, who smothers. Liverpool’s defenders are still in the dressing room, I think.
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46 min: Davies, deep inside his own half on the right, sets Everton on the attack with a glorious first-time crossfield rake. Lukaku is sent striding down the right, and crosses for Calvert-Lewin, but Matip smacks clear. Everton showing early intent, though. A big few minutes coming up.
Here we go again, then! Liverpool get the ball rolling and they’re kicking towards the Kop in the second half, which is just how they like it. Then again, Everton are kicking towards the end at which this happened ...
... so it’s all swings and roundabouts. No changes.
Half-time reading: Can Everton get back into the derby? Sure they can, with Romelu Lukaku leading their line, a player of power and poise who fits into a grand tradition stretching all the way back to Dixie Dean. Jonathan Wilson ran the rule over him earlier in the week.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 2-1 Everton
Can tries to beat Jagiekla in a foot race down the right. Neither man being the fastest, it’s a faintly comical sight, and both of them have the good grace to smile wryly as Can is penalised for running into the back of the Everton man. And that’s that for an engrossing first half. With this game still thoroughly in the balance, you’ll not be going anywhere, I’ll be bound.
45 min: Coutinho embarks on another hectic ramble down the inside-left channel. He very nearly makes space to shoot again, but Gueye nips in from behind to steal the ball, a wonderful challenge with his team in danger.
44 min: A much-needed period of calm. The referee could do with half-time coming round quickly.
42 min: Lucas comes clattering into Holgate, face to face, momentum knocking the young man down like a skittle. On the touchline, Koeman goes into meltdown, demanding a yellow card and then engaging Klopp in philosophical debate. There wasn’t much in that, but tempers are fraying now.
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40 min: Coutinho has a look from the edge of the box, but the ball drifts well wide left.
39 min: This is beginning to heat up now. Lukaku wins a towering header to set up Barkley, 30 yards from goal. But Barkley overruns the ball, and in trying to retrieve it, plants his studs on Lovren’s shin. That’s a leg-breaker of a challenge, and he should be sent off. Luckily it doesn’t seem to have done Lovren any serious damage. Barkley is booked, preposterously for repeated transgressions, if Anthony Taylor’s mime is anything to go by.
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36 min: Williams plants his boot in the small of Can’s back, after the Liverpool player fell forward while laying a ball off to a team-mate. There wasn’t much meat in the stamp, more of a gentle prod really, but it was a deliberate motion, and daft too, because if the officials had spotted it, he could have been in serious trouble. Strange, because while this game has been contested at a high tempo, and there have been a few crunching challenges, it’s been played in the right spirit.
34 min: Coutinho, so impressive for Brazil during the week, is back on his game it would seem. He very nearly breaks clear down the left channel, latching onto a Firmino backheel. Williams is forced into a panicked clearance into the stand behind the goal. Mane is penalised for pushing at the corner, some much-needed relief for Everton who, after hauling themselves level, were beginning to rock again.
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Everton (Coutinho 32)
Pennington was the hero a minute ago, but he’s at fault here. He allows Coutinho to run at him down the inside-left channel. Run and run and run. He doesn’t get tight enough. Coutinho enters the box, drops a shoulder to the right, and curls one into the top right! Some game we’ve got here.
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31 min: Liverpool try to respond immediately, Firminho sending a header goalwards. Jagielka blocks. The rebound falls to Can, scampering in from the right. He belts the ball. It’s blocked again. Everton clear. But in vain, because...
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Everton (Pennington 28)
The ball’s fired at head height towards the near post. Jagielka eyebrows it on. Williams can’t connect as it drops to the ground, but the ball sits up, six yards from goal, and Pennington, making his first start of the season, can’t miss! He smashes it into the net and celebrates in front of the Kop!
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28 min: Calvert-Lewin works his way down the left and earns another Everton corner. From which...
26 min: The first yellow card of the match, as young Tom Davies slides in recklessly on Mane. From the side, but very late, flipping the player high into the air. In fairness to the referee, that was the most obvious of all the potential bookings, and he has no choice but to flash his card.
25 min: Barkley dribbles in the Gazzaesque style down the inside-right channel, and is unceremoniously upended by Can. That could have been a booking too, but it’s just a free kick, to the right of the D. A dangerous position, but Baines clatters it straight into the wall.
24 min: Liverpool ping it around in the pretty fashion, Mane cutting in from the right, laying off for Coutinho, who in turn finds Milner down the left. Milner should send Wijnaldum away, but shanks his pass down the flank into the stand. Milner puffs his cheeks out hard, knowing full well he let backtracking Everton off the hook.
22 min: The first corner of an open match, as the ever-dangerous Baines curls one in from the left. It’s intended for Lukaku, but Matip slashes it into the Kop. Jagielka gets his head onto the resulting set piece, but flies that one into the famous old stand too.
19 min: Coutinho scampers clear down the left, after a Firmino pass. He enters the box, drops a shoulder, and works plenty of space to shoot. He curls one towards the top right, and it’s parried well by Robles. Nevertheless, the ball flies into the sky, and would loop into the top right were it not for Jagielka, heading clear off the line. Coutinho should probably have given Robles no chance, but take nothing away from the save.
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18 min: Mane has the opportunity to feed Clyne into an awful lot of space down the right, but chooses to go inside himself, and eventually loses possession with a loose pass.
16 min: Lukaku brushes Lucas off with contemptuous ease, holding the ball and setting Everton on the attack. Baines, out on the left, scoops a fine cross into the Liverpool box. The ball evades Lovren, who mistimes his jump, and falls at the feet of Calvert-Lewin, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. But the young Evertonian takes his eye off the ball and lets it roll under his boot. What a chance he’d have had, were he able to trap it then.
14 min: But they’re still a bit frantic and panicked in the middle of the park. A loose Davies ball is pounced on by Coutinho, who should break into a lot of space with Everton light at the back but takes a heavy touch.
13 min: Everton enjoy a little possession in the midfield, taking the opportunity to take the heat out of the game. Liverpool were looking for the quick second goal there, so it’s a wise tactic.
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11 min: Can has a belt from distance. His shot is deflected wide left and lands at the feet of Firmino, who very nearly opens Everton up after an exchange with the busy Can. Wijnaldum was hovering around too, but Holgate keeps his head to intercept and clear.
10 min: Everton are rocking. Coutinho attempts to replicate Mane’s moment of brilliance with a dribble of his own, sliding right to left and very nearly bustling into the box. But he tries one hip-swivelling shimmy too many, and Williams slides in to block before he can shoot. For a second, though, it looked like a second might be on the cards.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Everton (Mane 8)
So much for everyone calming down! Mane turns deep on the right. He exchanges passes with Firminho and drifts inside. He could slip Coutinho into the box, but continues drifting to the left. When he reaches the left-hand edge of the D, he swivels and threads a shot into the bottom right, past a stranded, planted Robles! What a solo effort that is! Anfield erupts.
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6 min: The first brouhaha of the afternoon as Barkley clatters into Can in the centre circle. Lucas wants the yellow card flourished, much to Lukaku’s irritation, and this should be a booking too, as Barkley had landed his studs flush on the top of Can’s boot. But again the ref plays it cool. He does get Jagielka and Milner together for a lecture, though. Calm down, everyone.
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4 min: Everton’s young team seem to have settled well enough. Davies, Barkley and Holgate are all involved in some pretty triangulation down the right, though the move comes to nothing. Then Baines steals a yard from Clyne down the left, and he’s pulled back. Only a free kick; by rights, that should have been a booking for the Liverpool right back. But the referee, Anthony Taylor, decides to keep his powder dry for now.
2 min: All a bit scrappy in the early exchanges. Barkley snaps at Matip’s heels on the edge of the Liverpool box, but a cheeky drag-back by the defender gets him out of trouble.
And we’re off! Everton get the ball rolling, and kick towards the Kop in this first half. It’s launched long. Lucas miskicks, and nearly gifts possession to Lukaku on the edge of the box. But Lucas gathers himself and clears at the second attempt. Some atmosphere at Anfield, but that goes without saying on days like these.
No pre-match chat with Jurgen Klopp. A pre-record, but nothing said this morning. If there was, I missed him, so apologies for that. Anyway, amid the usual derby-day bedlam, the teams come out. Liverpool in red, Everton in blue, the classic aesthetic of Merseyside. But before the game starts, there’s a heartfelt rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone and a minute’s applause for Ronnie Moran, Mr Liverpool, who passed away last week. One way or another, he was involved in 13 League titles, four European Cups, five FA Cups, five League Cups and two Uefa Cups. He celebrated one of those titles by plonking a cardboard box full of winners medals on the dressing room table and telling the team to take one “if you think you deserve it”. Seems he also used to refer to Jamie Redknapp in training as “Harry”. Wonderful. RIP Bugsy.
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Ronald Koeman speaks! “We have not adjusted a lot. The game plan for today is not changed. Of course the position of Seamus Coleman has changed, and Mason Holgate is starting. And the same thing has happened with Ramiro Funes Mori and Matthew Pennington. The rest is the same. Of course they are two young players, but I am totally confident in them. It is a big day for everybody, but Pennington is doing really well, I am not afraid to start him in this match.”
Pre-match reading. In lieu of having a programme to idly flick through, here’s a classic Joy of Six from the pen of Peerless Paul Doyle.
In fact, the article was so damn good we did it all over again.
Neither club is able to name the starting line-up they’d rather. Damn those internationals. Liverpool are missing Adam Lallana, who picked up a thigh strain with England. Lucas comes in to replace him; bang goes plenty of creativity. Still no Jordan Henderson, but Dejan Lovren is back in the centre of the defence, replacing Ragnar Klavan.
Everton suffered more than most during the break. Ramiro Funes Mori picked up a knee injury with Argentina, while Republic of Ireland pair James McCarthy and the desperately unlucky Seamus Coleman are also out. Morgan Schneiderlin meanwhile still hasn’t recovered from his calf problem. Matthew Pennington, Mason Holgate and Dominic Calvert-Lewin give the Toffees a very fresh-faced look.
The teams
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Matip, Lovren, Milner, Can, Lucas, Wijnaldum, Mane, Firmino, Coutinho.
Subs: Karius, Grujic, Klavan, Moreno, Origi, Woodburn, Alexander-Arnold.
Everton: Robles, Jagielka, Williams, Holgate, Pennington, Davies, Gueye, Baines, Barkley, Lukaku, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Kone, Mirallas, Barry, Valencia, Stekelenburg, Lookman, Kenny.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).
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Good morning.
Evertonians using recent history as their guide won’t fancy this one at all. The most recent Merseyside derby, played just before Christmas, was settled by a late Sadio Mané smash and grab. Everton’s last visit to Anfield was a four-goal humiliation in which they hardly touched the ball. They’ve not beaten Liverpool since Roy Hodgson was wedged in the away dugout at Goodison with a confused grin spread across his face: that was seven years ago. And they’ve not won on their arch rivals’ turf since the slap-happy days of Sander Westerveld and Franny Jeffers: Kevin Campbell’s winner was 18 years ago. Eighteen years!
And yet despite all that, there will be plenty of Evertonians who fancy this one very much. See, there’s a feelgood vibe emanating from Everton right now. Since defeat in the derby in December, they’ve lost just one league fixture in a dozen, and there’s no shame in getting beaten away at Spurs. They’re looking sharp up front: 17 goals in their last six matches. They’re keeping it tight at the back: four clean sheets in the last five. Romelu Lukaku is the Premier League’s hottest striker, while Ronald Koeman effortlessly exudes the sort of confidence and gravitas beyond Roberto Martinez’s wildest dreams. The kids look highly promising, Ross Barkley’s back on song, there’s money in the bank, and a fancy new £300m stadium in the pipeline. Best of all, the thing about long winless streaks ... well, winless streaks have to end sometime, don’t they?
Mind you, the denizens of Anfield won’t be short of confidence themselves. Liverpool thoroughly disgraced themselves during January and February, but Jurgen Klopp’s men - once talked of as potential title winners, it’s easy to forget - appear to have turned a corner with a fine win over Arsenal, a dogged one over Burnley, and a basketball-style entertainment spectacular at Manchester City. The thing about long unbeaten streaks ... well, they sometimes feel like they’ll go on forever and a day.
Both teams go into this match bursting with hope and dreams. Which is exactly how it should be. This promises to be a fantastic showdown, it could go either way, it’s too close to call, it’s the most delicately poised Merseyside derby since the 80s, and other marvellous clichés. Hey, even if it ends up a bit scrappy, there’s always the chance of rammy and a couple of red cards. You know how these two roll. Can’t wait? No, us neither! After the interminable international break, it’s the return of the FA Premier League! It’s the 228th Merseyside derby! It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm BST.
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