Round 14 of the 2018/19 Premier League season saw two local derbies being played. Arsenal welcomed Tottenham Hotspur to the Emirates, while Everton hopped across Stanley Park in Liverpool to visit their neighbors at Anfield. Regardless of form or table positions, the Merseyside Derby always bears a special kind of passion for a city split in two colors.
The Reds came into the game undefeated in the league, with 10 wins and three draws and sitting second only to title holders Manchester City, while the Blues sat in sixth place, above Manchester United on goal-difference after the Red Devils barely scraped a point off Southmapton on the south coast on the previous day.
Team News
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who is without the services of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for the entire season, also had to make do without his captain. Jordan Henderson was sent off with two bookings in their win at Watford in the previous round. Klopp also said several players had picked up knocks in their mid-week defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, he had to make some assessments ahead of the Derby.
He put Alisson Becker in goal, and the Brazil international had the quartet of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in front of him. Having been rested as an unused substitute on Wednesday, Fabinho was in line for a start, and Georginio Wijnaldum joined him in the base of midfield as the team aligned in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Sadio Mane started on the left wing, Xherdan Shaqiri on the right, and Roberto Firmino played just behind Mohamed Salah upfront.
Jordan Pickford stood between the posts for Everton, with centre-backs Michael Kean and Yerry Mina standing in front of him, and Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne covering the defensive flanks. Idrissa Gana Gueye and Andre Gomes played deep in midfield, with the trio of Gylfi Sigurdsson, Bernard and Theo Walcot playing behind striker Richarlison.
The First Half
It seemed at moments during the first 45 minutes that Liverpool would justify the difference in reputation between the two teams, but Everton did not come to Anfield to play second fiddle to anyone. Though the Reds had more of the ball and weaved intricate moves with patience, the Blues defended in an organized fashion. They were very effective in closing down the spaces Liverpool’s forwards looked to exploit, and very quick in getting the ball high up the pitch.
However, though there were no goals, there were plenty of chances at both ends, and the two goalkeepers were called upon a number of times.
Everton came close as early as four minutes in when Sigurdsson’s free-kick from a wide-left position found Mina for a free header, but the Colombia international failed to hit the target from six yards. Richarlison charged past Van Dijk in the 17th minute and entered the box, but then he lost his footing.
Three minutes later, they again had a fantastic chance as Bernard whipped in a cross from the left and found Walcott on the far post. The former Arsenal forward sent it back into the middle, and Gomes rose high and hit the target from six yards, but Alisson made himself big and stopped the ball, before Gomez cleared it off the line with a sliding tackle.
Walcott also had a good chance as he broke through towards the goal, but the Brazilian ‘keeper was quickly out and down, doing just enough to make him lose control of the ball.
Not that Liverpool didn’t have their own chances at the other end. Mane was through on Pickford twice, but on one occasion he blasted his shot over the bar, and on the other, Pickford came out on top. But their best chance fell for Shaqiri. The Swiss international was brilliantly set up by Fabinho and Salah, and he had all the time he needed to shoot past Pickford, but the England shot-stopper was successful again.
The Second Half
Liverpool came out from the break showing a bit more desire to show their class and they dominated the third quarter of the game. They kept the ball further up and had Everton defending hard for a long while, with Firmino looking much more lively and Mane and Salah getting into dangerous positions with increased frequency.
While it seemed an even race between the goalkeepers in the first 45 minutes, Pickford was in this period a lot busier of the two.
Just three minutes in, Salah had a go from outside the box and just missed the bottom corner, and then he and Firmino worked well to set Mane up. The Senegalese was through and inside the box, but like Salah before, he failed to hit the target with Pickford doing well to come out and close the angle down.
Everton did try and go forward in numbers, but each time they came close to being punished by Liverpool’s quick counterattacks.
With just over an hour gone, Silva took out Walcott and sent in young Ademola Lookman. The substitution itself didn’t seem to make much difference as the presence of Lookman brought nothing new, but the visitors were starting to get a grip of themselves at that point. Their organization returned, and they slowly took some of the control from Liverpool’s hands.
Coleman looked lively on the right flank, often helped by teammates who made darting runs around him, but they couldn’t really trouble Alisson, not even when Bernard was left alone with the ball at his feet at 20 yards as his shot went far from the target.
It was Klopp’s turn to act before the game went completely out of his team’s hands, and he replaced Shaqiri with Naby Keita in the 71st minute, and added Daniel Sturridge to the fray four minutes later in the place of Salah.
But Everton kept turning the screw and pushing Liverpool back towards the end. They kept the ball for longer spells and had more of the pitch behind their backs. Klopp threw his last card on the table in the 84th minute when he replaced Firmino with Divock Origi.
And as it sometimes is the case in this game, especially in derbies, the ending was turned into an incredible one by an unlikely hero.
The originally signalled four minutes of stoppage time had already expired when Liverpool had a free-kick wide on the right, just inside their own half, but referee Christopher Kavanagh had obviously decided to allow another 60 seconds as there had been a few more stops in play after the 90 had gone.
Alisson ran up and took it short, creating a better angle for Alexander-Arnold to send a long ball towards the box. An Everton player won the header but his clearance went only as far as Van Dijk on the edge of the box. All seemed lost for Liverpool as the Dutch centre-back sliced his volley a bit clumsily and sent the ball goalwards in a looping trajectory. It hit the top of the crossbar, came back into play and completely confused Pickford, who could then only watch Origi head it into the empty net.
Kavanagh allowed Everton to have one last go at finding an equalizer, but the Reds weren’t going to drop this victory from their hands.
The Afterthought
It was an even game, and Everton will feel hard done by with this result. A draw would have been fair, but it’s not very rare to see one laps of concentration set a dagger through the heart, and Pickford certainly made a mistake that cost his team dearly. It will feel even worse after putting in a really good performance for the rest of the game.
It’s as they were for the Blues, still in sixth place on goal-difference.
On the other hand, Liverpool won’t be thinking much about Everton’s poor luck. They’ll be thankful for their own good luck, and be very happy about the fact that they’re still holding their ground only two points behind Manchester City.
Match Report
LIVERPOOL: Alisson 8, Van Dijk 7.5, Gomez 8, Alexander-Arnold 7, Robertson 7, Fabinho 8, Wijnaldum 7, Shaqiri 5.5 (71′ Keita 6), Mane 8, Firmino 6.5, Salah 7 (75′ Sturridge 6).
EVERTON: Pickford 8, Keane 7.5, Mina 8, Coleman 7.5, Digne 7.5, Gueye 7, Gomes 8, Sigurdsson 6.5, Bernard 6.5, Walcott 6 (63′ Lookman 5), Richarlison 7.
GOAL: Origi 90’+5.
YELLOW CARDS: Shaqiri 33′, Fabinho 77′, Gomez 80′, Gomes 88′, Sigurdsson 90.
REFEREE: Christopher Kavanagh.
DATE & VENUE: December 2, 2018, Anfield, Liverpool.
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