Liverpool have endured a frustrating night so far against Everton in the Merseyside derby after a goalless opening 45 minutes. The best chance fell to the visitors when Beto went clean through, but he could only hit the post. The Toffees should probably have been down to ten men by that point, with James Tarkowski fortunate to avoid a red card for a wild lunge on Alexis Mac Allister.
Victory tonight for Arne Slot’s side and they will go 12 points clear of Arsenal with eight matches to play, in what has increasingly turned into a procession of a title race. Much of the talk at Liverpool over the international break was over Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future and a possible summer move to Real Madrid – Slot will be keen to get the focus back to matters on the pitch. The Englishman is out injured, and Slot has opted to start Curtis Jones at right-back in a surprise move.
A derby clash is the perfect opportunity to do so, though it comes only six weeks after a frustrating trip to Goodison Park when Tarkowski delivered a stunning 98th-minute equaliser. The Toffees are unbeaten in nine Premier League matches, but they have won just once at Anfield since 1999. Follow all the action with Standard Sport’s LIVE blog below!
90 mins: Six minutes added on.
Think Everton wanted a bit more than that. Six hours, maybe.
88 mins: Nunez needed some treatment after that Pickford challenge and he’s picked up a booking for his troubles.
He seems to have no idea what it was for… think the fact he not very subtly rolled back onto the pitch to get that treatment probably played a role.
86 mins: Nunez pokes the ball away from Pickford and gets wiped out in the box.
But the whistle had gone about ten seconds earlier, which neither played seemed to have heard. Or the Liverpool fans.
Pickford is lucky, that would have been a penalty.
84 mins: There is no real sign of Everton getting back into this.
If anything, Liverpool look as dangerous as they have all match, with more space now on offer. Jones has a shot, but it’s charged down.
81 mins: Diaz cuts inside onto his right foot in the box, low strike is blocked by Tarkowski.
Big appeals for handball as it bobbles around in the area, referee waves away the appeals. VAR quickly checks, no penalty there.
80 mins: Liverpool doing a good job of ticking away the seconds, controlling possession and taking their time over every throw-in.
Toffees struggling to get a kick, let alone a chance.
78 mins: Three more changes for Everton. Match is very stop-start now.
Broja, Young and Iroegbunam are on to replace Beto, Garner and Alcaraz.
75 mins: Jota’s night is over – job done for him.
Nunez on. It’s rarely boring with him, for better or worse.
72 mins: Not great from Konate and it allows Everton the chance to get the defenders up for a corner.
Garner swings it in, Kelleher with a bit of a flap… behind for another one.
It will be Garner to take this one too, from the opposite side. Mac Allister doing a fair wrestling job on Tarkowski, gets away with it.
69 mins: Ndiaye on for Everton to replace Harrison.
That might be as close as the Toffees come to ‘going for it’ in these final 20 minutes or so.
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