Read Andy Hunter’s match report from Anfield:
Klopp severely prickly post-match. “Can we please stop this? I am not in the mood,” he says in an interview. “I only want to talk to people with some understanding of football.” Hmm, to Wayne Rooney then, who lashed home his penalty to earn Everton the unlikeliest of points. “It is great to play the derby. It is great for the city and there are bragging rights,” Rooney says. “The Evertonians will be more pleased. It is always nice to score against Liverpool, no matter who you play for.”
That’s all from me. Thanks a lot for your company, emails, tweets. That was jolly good fun. Now attention moves to Manchester, where it’s five minutes until kick-off:
“Well this being the weekend for the chasing pack to catch up isn’t exactly going to plan, is it?” emails Nick Wood. “Spurs aside.” Indeed, Manchester City could move 16 points clear of Liverpool if they can get the better of Manchester United in the derby. Minute-by-minute coverage of that one is waiting for you here:
For Liverpool, they have paid a heavy price for failing to put the game to bed. They were all over Everton like a rash but careless when it mattered most. As for the penalty, Lovren’s naive challenge probably typifies their day. Frustration for Liverpool, who remain fourth, ahead of Arsenal.
And as the whistle goes, Dejan Lovren heads straight for the referee, to protest about that penalty decision. It was soft, Calvert-Lewin undoubtedly maximised contact, but it was equally clumsy by the Liverpool defender. Somehow, Everton have got a point out of that. They were woeful. Everton return to the top 10 in the Premier League.
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Full-time Liverpool 1-1 Everton
Liverpool have been Big Sam’d. Rooney’s penalty cancels out Salah’s stunning first-half opener.
90+3 min: Klopp’s going beserk as Liverpool pour forward again through Robertson. Coutinho looks to magic something before Henderson blazes over. That must be it.
90+1 min: Robertson’s ball from the left is lethal but Firmino is always stretching to latch onto it at the back stick. It evades him and it’s another half-chance squandered. Seconds, essentially, left to play.
90+1 min: Into the first of four added minutes ... the ball almost breaks for Henderson in the box but Williams gets his big toe to it. A crucial intervention.
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90 min: Sigurdsson sweeps the ball in but Liverpool do well enough to clear. Milner and then Firmino look to rebuild. Into the very closing stages of this one then.
89 min: Lovren climbs to meet Coutinho’s corner but he mis-times his jump. He could do with redeeming himself. Now it’s Everton’s turn to win a foul, with Klavan flying into the back of Calvert-Lewin 35 yards from goal.
88 min: Can either side find the most priceless of winners? Liverpool have a corner ...
86 min: Coutinho’s free-kick gets up over the Everton wall but in truth its fairly straightforward for Pickford. Earlier, Schneiderlin went into the book for a crunching challenge on Milner.
85 min: The two benches paint a brilliant picture. Allardyce chewing away, Rooney’s all smiles. Klopp, meanwhile, is a face of fury.
83 min: A couple of quickfire changes. Solanke is replaced by Danny Ings, whose last goal came at Goodison Park. Rooney is sacrificed for none other than Mr Phil Jagielka.
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82 min: Liverpool are pressing for a winner, but suddenly it’s all a bit rushed. Passes are overhit. Shots are wayward. And up at Old Trafford, there are shouts of “Rooney, Rooney” too, around concourses from those tuned into the events over on Merseyside.
81 min: Phillipe Coutinho is on for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Despite the performance here, those six changes by Klopp don’t look so clever now do they?
80 min: “Rooney! Rooney! Rooney!” is the chant from the pocket of delirious Everton fans at Anfield.
78 min: Wowee. The celebrations behind Mignolet’s goal are inevitably wild. Everton have been dire, but they’ve found an equaliser, somehow. Only Dejan Lovren knows how. That was a silly, clumsy challenge.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Everton (Rooney, 77 pen)
They’re level.
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A stupid challenge by Lovren on Calvert-Lewin sees the striker fall in the box. And that’s that. Penalty given. It was a great ball by Rooney to locate the England youngster.
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Penalty to Everton!
And, right on cue.
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75 min: Liverpool are still in pursuit of a second. This sounds extremely daft, but is that a dangerous game? They won’t, will they? After all, Everton have been woeful.
72 min: Everton win a corner, after decent work by Jonjoe Kenny. Mignolet punches the first clear before claiming another long ball into the box. That was a glimmer of hope at least for the visitors. Liverpool promptly go up the other end and win a corner, after Solanke’s effort is deflected wide.
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71 min: Firmino almost finds an opening but there’s a roadblock in the shape of Idrissa Gueye. They go again.
“The more you talk about how one sided this is the more I’m expecting to read of an 88th minute headed equaliser from Ashley Williams,” emails Roman. “It is Liverpool after all, let’s not underestimate their potential to Liverpool it up.” Indeed ...
70 min: This is not as bad as Everton at Southampton a few weeks ago, mainly because Phil Jagielka’s not playing, but they have been utterly dismal this afternoon. This can’t finish 1-0, can it?
68 min: Is there anybody more relieved in Liverpool right now than Cuco Martina? Salah’s had him on toast, again and again.
67 min: And the superb Salah is replaced by Firmino.
66 min: Chance after chance for Liverpool. Gomez has just flicked a header over Pickford’s goal. Lookman is warming up on the touchline, and while they still only trail by one goal, surely it’s time for Everton to have a go.
65 min: Roberto Firmino is coming on for the hosts.
64 min: Everton have been so wishy-washy. Liverpool are looking so comfortable it’s untrue. If this was a bout, the referee would have already called time. Pickford has just done brilliantly to steer the ball away from Mane from Oxlade-Chamberlain’s daring cross.
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62 min: Liverpool 77-23 Everton. Alas, that’s only the possession numbers.
60 min: Solanke seizes on another Martina error in the box. He slices the ball straight to the striker from Robertson’s fairly harmless cross. Martina may as well come off. He’s not helping Everton out there, only hindering things. But Solanke’s effort is wayward.
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Ooosh, via email. “Though I suppose this game could be entertaining to some people (in the way a cat playing with a mouse is entertaining) I can’t be the only neutral who finds the one-sidedness of this derby kind of sad, can I?” asks JR. “I have to keep reminding myself it’s only 1-0 right now. Feels like 10-0.”
59 min: Mane has a volley on goal from distance but Pickford collects. It would have been a tasty finish.
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58 min: Kenny’s long ball downfield is hit and hope and Klavan soon snuffs that out. That’s all Everton have mustered in truth and that’s not good enough really. It’s been totally one-way traffic.
57 min: Cuco Martina is having a difficult afternoon on his 50th Premier League appearance, I think it’s fair to say.
55 min: The next corner is played short, but it’s all too easy for Salah to then dance around the box before unleashing an effort goalwards. This time he gets it all wrong. He’s not perfect.
54 min: More schoolboy defending by Martina allows Salah to win Liverpool another corner. Klavan attacks but it falls wide, via a deflection.
53 min: Holgate flicks the ball clear with Lovren ready to convert. Then comes the second wind of Liverpool, with another corner. Then Martina clears. It’s becoming quite the onslaught at Anfield.
51 min: Brilliant clearance by Kenny denies Liverpool another! He slides in to clear after the ball is fizzed across the box. Any hopes of an Everton fightback look rather slim. Oxlade-Chamberlain then wriggles away from Williams before Gueye tidies things up. Salah will take the corner ...
50 min: Rooney plays in Calvert-Lewin, who breaks forward. It looks promising but the Everton forward overhits his pass for the onrushing Sigurdsson by about a mile. Chance gone.
“Allardyce fiddling with his earpiece is the new Wenger struggling with his coat zip,” emails Marie. I like it, I like it.
49 min: Salah just wide! Milner’s deep cross swings its way to Salah at the back stick, lurking behind Jonjoe Kenny. But he nods his header just wide of Pickford’s goal. A big chance. Big Sam’s not a happy bunny.
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48 min: A neat interchange between Salah and Oxlade-Chamberlain results in a corner. Williams duly clears the danger, for now at least.
47 min: Everton start the second half as they did the first, by gifting possession to Liverpool.
46 min: A slow and steady start by Liverpool. That Salah goal has relieved the pressure in some ways. Will they go for Everton’s jugular as such? Milner strikes wide to suggest so.
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Peeeeeep!
And we’re back under way at Anfield.
Half-time changes for Everton: Schneiderlin and Lennon coming on, replacing Tom Davies and Oumar Niasse.
And here’s David Hytner’s match report from Southampton 1-1 Arsenal earlier on this afternoon:
Some half-time emails. “Coutinho, Can and Firmino warming the bench,” muses Gary Byrne. “In the age of millionaire snood-wearing superstars, surely the bench warms them?”
“Team news, no news,” says Mike Greville. “No-one could seriously think the ‘fab four’ would play today (it’s only Everton, at home). Liverpool suffered Christmas+ in the last 2 years, so Klopp has been planning ahead this time - for several weeks, resting players - especially the F4. Will it pay off? We’ll see. [I thought it’d be Sturridge from the start, tight game ‘n’ all].”
And best of all, we have an early Christmas carol XI, courtesy of Mac Millings:
Davide Zappafrosty the Snowman
Bixente Lizarazu They Know It’s Christmas?
God Rest Steve Perry(gentle)man
Good King Junior Stanislas
I Saw Mommy Kissing Roque Santa Cruz
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmassimo Maccarone
Santi Cazorla Want for Christmas is You
Deck Fitz Hall with Boughs of Holly, Fa-la-la-la-la, la la la la
Matt Le Tiss the Season to be Jollyvier Giroud
Fa-la-la-la-la, la la la Lars Bohinen
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Half-time Liverpool 1-0 Everton
Mohamed Salah’s stunner is the difference at the break.
45+1 min: Mane skips away from Williams but drags his effort horribly wide. He had company too in the box. Perhaps he needed to lend on some of that unselfishness we have already seen this season, many a time too in fairness.
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45 min: Salah curls another goalwards but Williams heads clear. That was an almost identical left-footed strike. His goal was wondrous, a real peach. And now Oxlade-Chamberlain thrashes an effort wide from 30 yards. Can Liverpool add a second before the interval?
44 min: Well, Liverpool have more than deserved that. Everton were on the ropes for the previous 40-odd minutes. Now they go again, with Robertson and Mane linking down the left.
Martina can’t cope with Salah, and the Liverpool winger then wriggles away from Gueye, before bending his effort around Ashley Williams’s torso and into the top corner. Sterling stuff from Salah. What were we saying earlier? That’s his 13th goal of the season.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Everton (Salah, 42)
The red corner land the first blow. A magical strike.
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41 min: Gomez does really well, bursting down the right flank to get the better of Martina. His ball in is then shepherded away by Pickford. It’s wave after wave for that Everton back line. And now Gueye is booked, for a lunge on Mane.
39 min: It’s all very nicey nicey from Liverpool, but they need to conjure up something a little bit different. Everton have seen all of this before. Pickford gathers another crashing ball into the box.
36 min: Gylfi Sigurdsson becomes the first player to be cautioned this afternoon, for a bruising challenge on Henderson. He is unlikely to be the last either. It was a matter of time before that first booking.
“If Jose is looking for a bus later I think big Sam has hijacked the entire fleet,” emails Rick McGahey. Very nice, very nice.
34 min: And now Andrew Robertson shoots over from distance. As much as Liverpool are having it all their own way, they haven’t managed to get too close to Pickford’s goal just yet. That was more good work by Salah, though. Signing of the season?
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32 min: James Milner is held off the ball by Rooney and slides off on the snowy, icy turf before clattering into the advertising boards. Not to worry , though, as the Everton fans have a few nice words for him.
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“Liverpool’s selection is kind of disrespectful to Everton,” emails Ian Copestake. “Like inviting someone to hit you while one hand is tied behind your back.”
29 min: It’s surely just a matter of time, isn’t it?
27 min: Everton are all over the shop. Joe Gomez bends in a superb cross from the right which comes through to Mane beyond the far post, he has many bodies in his way but finds Dominic Solanke – he tries to lay it off to find another red shirt but he can’t locate one.
22 min: Big Sam continues to brave the snowy conditions at Anfield to communicate with Craig Shakespeare up in the Gods at Anfield.
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21 min: A silly push by Oxlade-Chamberlain on Sigurdsson earns Everton a much-needed free-kick, 25 yards in front of Pickford’s goal. At least that may give them a chance to get their house in order, and gives them a moment’s respite if nothing else.
20 min: Everton just cannot get out of their own half. And when they do, Calvert-Lewin loses out again to the robust Klavan in the challenge. How long can the visitors go on like this?
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18 min: Everton continue to retreat. They are being penned in by Liverpool, who remember are Fab Four-less.
17 min: For a moment, Calvert-Lewin thinks he has outwitted Dejan Lovren just inside the Liverpool half but a foul is awarded. Liverpool go again.
16 min: Things have calmed down – for now. Klavan and Lovren knock the ball around at the back. Liverpool are prying for another opening. They’ve been much the better team so far.
14 min: Niasse slides in on the advancing Joe Gomez, who had latched on to a neat Mane through ball, but no foul is given. It’s adjudged the Everton man took the ball. It looked like a bit of both. Then Kenny loses out to Mane in a dangerous area before Salah wins a corner. Everton have been painful in possession.
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11 min: Everton, and Wayne Rooney in particular, get a little fortunate. Salah and Robertson play a neat one-two which allows the Liverpool full-back to drive inside towards goal. Rooney, who keeps drifting wide to the right flank, totally lost his man. Eventually Everton ride the wave but they are under the cosh here. Big Sam looks livid. His blood pressure doubtless soaring.
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10 min: And now Mignolet rushes out of goal to stop Niasse in his tracks. A mammoth ball over the top saw the Everton striker played in but the Liverpool goalkeeper hoovers it up nicely. A minority of Liverpool supporters are already angry at some Everton timewasting.
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8 min: Mane finds some space in between Williams and Holgate inside the box but he slips over. The pace of Mane and Salah is beginning to threaten the Everton defence. Poor Cuco Martina. Just before Rooney looked for Niasse but his overhit pass was a little ambitious.
6 min: Now Salah looks to free Solanke over the top. For a moment it looks dangerous but the Liverpool striker cannot connect. Then theres’s another wild Everton pass, straight out play.
5 min: Mane feeds an overlapping Robertson down the left flank but it’s tame and Pickford easily gathers. Klopp is going through the gears on the touchline.
3 min: Tom Davies intercepts and then is fouled by Milner 35 yards or so from goal. Everton use the free-kick to launch a deep ball in towards Calvert-Lewin but it’s just a little overcooked from Kenny. Nice idea.
2 min: Williams comes under pressure from Solanke after Martina plays a hospital pass. Liverpool work it wide to Salah before Milner drives over. Allardyce is barking instructions down on the touchline, with snow yet to trouble his earpiece.
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1 min: Mason Holgate hoofs the ball straight out of play for a Liverpool goal-kick. If that doesn’t warm the cockles, nothing will. Liverpool take hold centrally, but Salah can’t latch on to a through ball wide on the right.
Peeeeeeeeeep!
Dominic Calvert-Lewin kickstarts the 229th Merseyside derby.
The players are out on the pitch at Anfield. And here comes a a truly rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone. We are just the usual pre-match rigamarole away from kick-off. It’s going to be a good one. Strap yourselves in.
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A gentle reminder that this fixture has seen a record 21 red cards issued across the 50 Premier League meetings, with 14 for Everton and seven for Liverpool. Big Sam has already reiterated the importance of his players “using their intelligence” to stay cool-headed at Anfield this afternoon. Ashley Williams is the bookies favourite to see red, for what it’s worth.
A heartwarming Merseyside derby tale, courtesy of Elliot Wilson. “I went on a guided tour of Anfield two months ago and the same night I had a dream where Mike Gatting scored a shanked winner for Liverpool, while eating a pie,” he says via email. “Or at least, the newspaper reports afterward (in my dream) indicated that a pie was involved. I do not know what flavour it was or against which team we were playing.”
And I like the sound of this kind of red-hot action. “Whatever happens, I want to see some Klopp spittle,” tweets William Hargreaves. “That’s when you know you have a match.” Indeed. Let’s be having you.
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Sam Allardyce, the Everton manager (it still feels funny typing that), speaks. “We have tried to install a bit of a game-plan to deal with Liverpool today because we know how good they are going forward,” he says, looking quietly confident. “We need to use the ball in the correct manner. In and out of possession, we have to be on top of our game.”
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Salah and co look relaxed as they wrap up their warm-ups as well as their fingertips at Anfield. There are snoods galore. This may not be Liverpool’s best team but they are no mugs. With Moreno missing, it’s another good opportunity for the likeable Andrew Robertson to express his claim for a regular spot. Captain Jordan Henderson is back after putting his feet up in midweek, while Sadio Mané has been unplayable at times this season too. And to think this is just the pre-cursor for that pesky Manchester derby in a bit.
Keep them coming. “Ben – I had a dream Everton won 1-0 today,” emails Gareth Wilson. “OK, Lukaku got the winner, but I think Klopp may be doing his best to make at least part of my dream come true.” Any more for any more?
Olivier Giroud has a dug out an equaliser for Arsenal at Southampton. There’s only a handful of minutes left to play at St Mary’s:
Dominic Solanke is among those six changes for Liverpool. The 20-year-old has clearly won the trust of Klopp since joining the club from Chelsea over the summer. He has not scored in 12 appearances to date this season. Today would be the perfect day to do so, wouldn’t it? Must admit, am not totally convinced by Solanke but Liverpool need him to bully what is still – other than Ashley Williams – a defence lacking big-game knowhow.
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While we’re just going through the motions here, and slowly coming to terms with that bold Liverpool team news, down on the south coast Southampton are en route to upsetting Arsenal. Niall McVeigh is at the helm for that one:
Hands up then, who expected to see Coutinho, Can and Firmino warming the bench this afternoon at Anfield? It is just the one change for Everton from the side that started the 2-0 win over Huddersfield last weekend, with Niasse replacing Lennon. The biggest boost for Everton is surely those Liverpool changes.
Team news!
Liverpool: Mignolet; Gomez, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson, Milner; Mane, Solanke, Salah
Subs: Karius, Wijnaldum, Firmino, Coutinho, Can, Ings, Alexander-Arnold
Everton: Pickford; Kenny, Holgate, Williams, Martina; Gueye; Calvert-Lewin, Davies, Rooney, Sigurdsson; Niasse
Subs: Robles, Schneiderlin, Keane, Jagielka, Lennon, Vlasic, Lookman
Six surprise changes for Liverpool, with Phillipe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino dropping out. As does Emre Can. And just look, Danny Ings is back amongst it, in a matchday squad for the first time since September. Well, well, well.
“It is part of the season where you have to make the changes when you can make the changes,” Klopp says. “I know people are saying Liverpool are flying and that, but today we need to be ready for a proper fight. It’s our stadium, it’s our home ground and I really want to see that.”
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Preamble
So here we are, for the 229th Merseyside derby. Even a light dusting of snow in and around Anfield can not put pay to this scrumptious battle between two teams with a spring in their step. All of the doom and gloom that surrounded Everton has, in fairness to Sam Allardyce, evaporated since Big Sam’s appointment and three straight wins later, the most recent of which came in Limassol on Thursday evening, the new manager bounce lives on. This is different, though; the challenge of trying to secure victory over Liverpool, at their place, for the first time since 1999. A win would move Everton to within eight points of Liverpool.
The last visiting manager to win a league game at Anfield? Allardyce, of course, while in charge of Crystal Palace in April. He sat out Everton’s win in Cyprus so he could put in the hard yards at their Finch Farm training ground. But that still wasn’t enough. “I haven’t had the time to go the lengths and depths I’ve gone to with the other teams I’ve had,” he said. “And of course I’ve got a completely different set of players here.” He’s got Wayne Rooney, though, and he’s due a goal in this fixture having not scored in his previous four league derbies.
Allardyce has bigged up Liverpool’s wealth of attacking options, pointing towards the forward-thinking foursome that are now being painfully termed as Jürgen Klopp’s Fab Four. Liverpool have rattled in 40 goals in 11 matches (seven of which came against Spartak Moscow on Wednesday evening) and are unbeaten in six league matches. “I don’t like the name Fab Four but it’s not important whether I like it or not,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference. “Am I privileged to manage them? Yes, of course.” At the other end, Liverpool’s defence has been impressive of late, especially at Anfield, but everybody knows they have a tendency to self implode. Will it be another rip-roaring display from Liverpool’s frightening front line or might Big Sam have a Big Sam masterclass up his sleeve on this swashbuckling champagne Super Sunday?
Kick-off: 2.15pm
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