Liverpool's failure to beat Everton at Goodison last March proved decisive in the title race
Manchester City's emphatic win over Arsenal has taken some of the drama away from this meeting, meaning Liverpool can no longer be crowned champions with victory over their nearest rivals. That's not to say the match will hold any less importance on Merseyside, though.
Last season, Everton promoted a siege mentality prior to the Goodison Park showdown having highlighted the fixture as an opportunity to prevent the Reds from winning the Premier League title. And they delivered. A battling 0-0 draw proved decisive in the final shake-up.
While the Toffees won't have their home fans to roar them on, nor have the same carrot to motivate them, knowing they can at least delay Liverpool's coronation a little further should be motivation enough.
Carlo Ancelotti: Everton manager took a pay deferral during the shutdown
A few weeks before the shutdown it had been almost exclusively sweetness and light for Carlo Ancelotti since arriving at Goodison, with the only blot an FA Cup third-round defeat at Anfield, against a team of under-23 and reserve players.
But immediately before the three-month hiatus, the honeymoon period came to a grinding halt. Dreams of Champions League qualification quickly evaporated when Everton lost at Arsenal and Chelsea either side of a home draw with Manchester United, with the most recent defeat a 4-0 thrashing.
All in all though, there has been a stark improvement from the relegation-threatened first half of the season under Marco Silva.
No Everton fan needs to be told that it's almost a decade since their last league win over Liverpool, a run of 18 matches. What's most interesting about the recent, and most relevant, past is that these games tend to be very low scoring and usually end in draws.
The absence of supporters for a huge derby match certainly changes things but you'd still expect both teams to come out at a real intensity, to almost over-compensate for that absence of atmosphere.
Trent Alexander-Arnold takes a corner for Liverpool
Both Liverpool and Everton thrive on the use of full-backs as major attacking outlets, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson and Lucas Digne in particular marauding down the flanks. What that also leads to is blocks, deflections and the resulting corners.
Manchester City (237) are streaks ahead of the rest of the Premier League in the corner charts but Liverpool in third and Everton in fifth average 6.6 and 6.1 corners per game respectively.
With blocks a plenty, and players keen to get the ball into the area to try and force a goal in a tight encounter, I think those numbers will hold true, so
7/4 for 12+ total corners is tempting.
I do think Everton will make things difficult, but with Morgan Schneiderlin, Fabian Delph, Yerry Mina and Theo Walcott among their list of injured players I think it'll prove too much.
The Reds themselves are refusing to give an update on Mo Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Robertson, though, so it could be that both sides are missing key players come kick-off. Even if that is the case, Jurgen Klopp's side have the resources to cope far better than their rivals.
Opta stats
- Everton are winless in 18 Premier League meetings with Liverpool (D10 L8) since a 2-0 win back in October 2010 at Goodison Park.
- Six of the last seven Premier League meetings between Everton and Liverpool at Goodison Park have ended as draws, with Liverpool winning the other 1-0 in December 2016.
- Everton have failed to score in their last three home league games against Liverpool, managing just 19 shots across those games. The Toffees last failed to score in four consecutive home games against their rivals back in April 1978 (six in a row).
- In all competitions, Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 21 games against Everton – only against Aston Villa (22 between 1981-1992) have they had a longer such run against an opponent.
- Liverpool’s only previous competitive match played in June was their Champions League final victory over Spurs last season. Meanwhile, this will be Everton’s first ever competitive match in the month.
- Everton are winless in three Premier League games (D1 L2), though they are unbeaten in seven at Goodison Park (W4 D3) since losing 0-2 against Norwich in November.
- Liverpool have been behind at some point in each of their last three Premier League games, after a run of 15 straight games without trailing. The Reds last went behind in four consecutive league games between May-August 2016.
- Liverpool’s Divock Origi has scored five goals in seven appearances against Everton in all competitions, netting a brace in the reverse Premier League fixture at Anfield. The last Reds player to score more than once in both Merseyside league derbies in a season was Dick Forshaw in 1925-26 (hat-trick at Anfield, two at Goodison).
- Michael Keane and Richarlison scored Everton’s goals in their 2-5 defeat against Liverpool in the reverse fixture. The last Everton player to score home and away against Liverpool in the same league season was Andrei Kanchelskis in 1995-96.
- Just two of Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah’s 16 Premier League goals this season have come in away games (12.5%). Of the 204 occasions of a player netting 15+ Premier League goals in a full campaign, the only player with a lower ratio of goals scored on the road was Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008-09 (11.1% - 2/18).
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