admin Keane replaces Godfrey in Everton team
Ben Godfrey has pulled a quad muscle in the warm-up, so Michael Keane comes into the side. These are the revised teams.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Keita, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Jota, Mane.
Substitutes: Kelleher, Konate, Milner, Gomez, Henderson, Jones, Tsimikas, Diaz, Origi.
Everton (4-3-3) Pickford; Coleman, Holgate, Keane, Mykolenko; Doucoure, Allan, Iwobi; Gordon, Richarlison, Gray.
Subs: Begovic, Kenny, Delph, Branthwaite, Rondon, El Ghazi, Dele, Price.
Referee Stuart Attwell.
“Everton’s midfielders/attacking players must be in red-hot form if Dele Alli can’t even get a sniff,” says Yash Gupta. “Perhaps he doesn’t follow the Lampardian system.”
Apparently he played well when he came on the other night against Leicester.
A reminder of the teams
Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Keita, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Jota, Mane.
Substitutes: Kelleher, Konate, Milner, Gomez, Henderson, Jones, Tsimikas, Diaz, Origi.
Everton (4-3-3) Pickford; Coleman, Holgate, Keane, Mykolenko; Doucoure, Allan, Iwobi; Gordon, Richarlison, Gray.
Subs: Begovic, Kenny, Delph, Branthwaite, Rondon, El Ghazi, Dele, Price.
Referee Stuart Attwell.
“When people (and all the ‘experts’) talk about the unpredictable nature of Merseyside derbies, can they actually remember one?” says Joe Shelton. “It’s a lazy cliche that has no basis in fact. Liverpool win – that’s the cliche.”
You say that, but Liverpool have won only one of the last four derbies. But yes, it has been very one-sided since the turn of the century.
The pre-match thoughts of Jurgen Klopp
“We have to treat it like a normal game [rather than a derby] against an opponent who is fighting to stay in the league. They will go for it and we have to do the same. It will be intense; it has to be.”
“Hi Rob,” says Matt Burtz. “You’ve don’t have to tell Everton fans that things are getting serious. This game is a write-off; it’s the three successive games in May against Brentford, Watford, and Crystal Palace, two of them at Goodison, that may very well decide survival. (And the hope that Leeds get sucked into it.) Frankly I’m not even sure why I’m watching today, aside from masochism. That, and it’s supposed to rain where I am.”
It might well rain goals at Anfield, boom boom.
“I’ve spent all week feeling completely confident about this game,” weeps Matt Dony. “And yet, here we are, counting down the minutes, expecting Everton to defend stubbornly and sneak a scruffy winner in the 83rd minute. Football turns us all into idiots. (Admittedly, many of us don’t leave it much work to do…)”
Frank Lampard’s pre-match thoughts
“They’re a great team in great form. We just have to focus on ourselves and believe we can get a result. We have to be absolutely spot-on today to get something. We need to be brave, disciplined, stick together and put in a huge amount of effort.”
“Rob, it goes beyond squeaky-bum time,” writes Everton fan Mary Waltz. “Dark, bleak, gut-wrenching despair, Black Sunday would be more accurate. Well, how much worse could this day get? ‘Stunning election results from France…’”
It’s fascinating (and slightly alarming) how often we remember our team’s result on the day of a seismic global event. To most rounded human beings, 28 November 1990 is the day Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister; to me it’s the night Danny Wallace played like Romario and Lee Sharpe banged in a hat-trick.
“Hello Rob,” says Kari Tulinius. “Though I’m not a fan of Liverpool, I prefer them ever so slightly as league winners, if only because I enjoy watching them play more than their title rivals. So I’m worried that they might slip up today, given that local derbies are famously unpredictable, and that stepping on even a single banana peel might doom their chances. I’m currently watching Napoli’s faint hope of winning the scudetto go up in smoke, down 3-2 against Empoli after leading 2-0, and I hope it isn’t an omen for Liverpool. Enjoy the match!”
Full time: Burnley 1-0 Wolverhampton
Matej Vydra’s goal has given Burnley another precious victory, which moves them above Everton into 17th place. It pains me to say it, but so far the unpleasant decision to sack Sean Dyche has been justified.
As for Everton, this is getting serious. Seriously serious.
Keita v Henderson
“I would hazard the view that Naby has in fact gone ahead of our very captain in the team,” says Ian Copestake. “When disciplined manic pressing is required then Naby does not end up playing up front like our Hendo has tended to do. A changing of the guard is afoot.”
I agree it’s afoot – Henderson is 32 in June and has a gazillion miles on the clock – but I still think he would start, say, the Champions League final against Manchester City ahead of Keita.
More pre-match reading
It looks like Everton will drop into the relegation zone before this game kicks off. Burnley lead Wolves 1-0 at Turf Moor with just over five minutes remaining. If it stays like that Everton would be two points with two games in hand. Squeaky-bum time doesn’t come close to describing it.
Keita and Thiago both start for Liverpool today, which makes Will Unwin’s excellent piece even more clickable.
team news
Jurgen Klopp decides to give Jordan Henderson a rest ahead of the Champions League semi-final first leg against Villarreal on Wednesday. He’s replaced by Naby Keita, and Diogo Jota comes in for Luis Diaz.
Team news 📋
How we line-up for today’s Merseyside derby 🔴 #LIVEVE
—Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 24, 2022
Frank Lampard also makes two changes: Mason Holgate and Abdoulaye Doucoure replace Fabian Delph and the (presumably) injured Yerry Mina.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Liverpool v Everton at Anfield. This is the 291st Merseyside derby, and in that time there have been a fair few thrashings: two 6-0s, five 5-0s, eight 4-0s and even a 7-4. But I’d be surprised if any of the previous 290 derbies felt like such a foregone conclusion.
Liverpool are sniffing a quadruple; Everton are in serious danger of relegation for the first time in 68 years. Liverpool have won their last 11 league games at Anfield; Everton have taken one point from their last 11 away games. I could go on, but we all know about the disparity between the teams.
It should be a mismatch, but then so should Tyson v Douglas, David v Goliath and Greece v everyone. You just never know, which is why all keep watching. That and because The Man applies an electric current to the cullions every time I try to leave the liveblog dungeon.
The worry for Everton is not that they will lose, but that they will be hammered in a manner that impacts their remaining six games. While it won’t sit comfortably with Frank Lampard, a dignified 2-0 defeat might be a decent result.
kick off 4.30pm.
