It’s time for the 244th Merseyside derby, 130 years on from their first-ever encounter, and few meeting in recent times have been more important, with Everton battling for survival, while Liverpool need points as they seek to stay alive in the title race.
Everton vs Liverpool match preview
After getting back to winning ways on Sunday, Liverpool simply need to keep putting three points on the board if they’re to harbour any hopes of ending Jürgen Klopp’s final season in charge with a glory.
It had been a rough fortnight for the Reds, dumped out the Europa League by Atalanta, humiliatingly smashed 3-0 at Anfield, whilst also failing to win back-to-back Premier League games, held to a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, before catastrophically beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace at home.
This is only the Reds’ second home league defeat in front of fans since April 2017, a sequence of 114 matches, previously only beaten 2-1 by Leeds in November 2022, dating back to another reverse at the hands of Palace exactly seven years ago yesterday.
Nevertheless, at the weekend, Liverpool got back on track and kept their title dreams alive by battling to a 3-1 victory at Fulham.
Trent Alexander-Arnold curling home a stunning free-kick, before second half goals from Ryan Gravenberch and then Diogo Jota secured the points at Craven Cottage.
So, after this derby, Klopp will have just four more games in charge, with these fixtures West Ham (A), Tottenham (H), Aston Villa (A) and then Wolves (H), which is far from a straight-forward run-in.
Nevertheless, anything less than 15 points out of 15 will see their already slim title chances go up in flames so, as the Reds make the extremely short 0.8 mile journey across Stanley Park, will they pick up three vital points?
Everton meantime were also victorious on Sunday, beating fellow-struggling Nottingham Forest 2-0, a result that represents a gigantic step towards safety.
Idrissa Gana Gueye and then Dwight McNeil scoring near-identical long-range daisy-cutters, as the Toffees made it back-to-back home wins, having been ignominiously demolished 6-0 at Stamford Bridge in-between.
Nevertheless, Sean Dyche’s side now sit five points clear of the relegation zone with 30 points to their name.
Given that, since 2015/16, only one side has gone down with 35 points or more, five points from their remaining five fixtures will be the minimum aim, albeit the sole exception to that was Dyche’s Burnley in 2022.
After this, the Blues have Brentford (H), Luton (A), Sheffield United (H) and Arsenal (A), with that Friday night visit to Kenilworth Road set to be particularly pivotal, desperate to be safe before visiting the current leaders on the final day.
The Toffees have not won three consecutive Premier League home games since September 2021, while their most-recent derby win at Goodison came in 2010, so can they change both of those facts here?
Everton vs Liverpool Tips
As alluded to, Everton have a miserable Merseyside derby record, winning only one of the last 29, this coming behind-closed-doors at Anfield in 2021.
On the flip side, Liverpool have claimed victory in 28 of the last 52 derbies, including four of the last five, a trend we’re forecasting will continue.
Derbies have tended to be boring in recent times, with four of the last 12 ending goalless, while just 13 goals have been scored across the last six, five of which (38.46%) came during Liverpool’s 4-1 win at Goodison in December 2021.
However, against previous trends, we are forecasting an entertaining encounter this time.
This is because Liverpool have only kept one clean sheet in their last 11, while Everton have only failed to score in two of their last nine, netting in seven successive home games.
We hope referee Andy Madley is prepared for a busy night’s work, considering the last eight Merseyside derbies have witnessed 38 yellow cards and two reds, with Ashley Young dismissed at Anfield in October.
Everton have been shown multiple cards in each of their last five outings, collecting 17 cautions during the period in total.
Liverpool meantime have picked up 2+ cards on 26 occasions this season, thereby doing so in 49% of fixtures.
In terms of James Tarkowski specifically, he has been booked ten times this season, shown a yellow card in four successive Premier League matches prior to the weekend, also cautioned during the reverse fixture.
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