English Premier League. Week 33
Saturday, April 7, 2018, 12:30 PM UTC
Venue: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England
Referee: Michael Oliver
Everton and Liverpool traditionally perform a show for the fans, fueling their feelings of historical rivalry against each other within the same city. However, recently Liverpool’s dominancy has increased as the last time they were not able to win a point in the games against Everton was back in 2011. As the Manchester City are getting closer to the English Premier League title, leaving other teams with no hope, the Blues receive another chance to break the unfortunate streak with demotivated Liverpool. Below you can find several details You need to know ahead of the match.
Current Forms
Everton – The team have an unstable trend of the game results in 2018. In the last 10 games they have won 4, drawn one and lost 5. In fact, all 4 games the team were able to win were against teams of the same mediocre level (Leicester City) or the teams that are struggling to keep their place in the most prestigious English competition (Crystal Palace, Brighton, Stoke City). Last week Everton were hosting probable new EPL champion Manchester City and lost (1-3). However before the mentioned game the team were not losing at home since the start of the January, when there hosting the other Manchester team.
Liverpool – The Reds are currently on a very good run. In the last 10 games they have lost only one clash, which was the notorious away game against Manchester United, the only point in 2018, when Jurgen Klopp’s team received a lot of criticism for. Other than that the team will most probable manage to stay in the Top-4 (currently the third with 66 points) and have already made the World Football fall in amazement after the Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Manchester City (home, 3-0) where the Reds performed an unbelievable half, making their proceeding in the UCL much more probable.
Head-to-Head (H2H)
Liverpool are the obvious dominant in this rivalry of the recent years. In the current season they have already met twice for the first round of the English Premier League and FA Cup in FA Cup Round 3. The EPL clash at Anfield was a draw (1-1) and the second time these teams met in FA Cup, Liverpool won (2-1) to proceed in the competition to lose to West Bromwich in Round 4. In general, last time Everton won a Merseyside derby was back in 2010, they fail to win in 16 head-to-head clashes in a row. 4 games out of last 5 games at Goodison Park, however, have been draws, as Everton historically shows more solid performance at home.
Missing Players
Everton – James McCarthy, Maartan Stekelenburg, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Mason Holgate, Eliaquim Mangala (all injured)
Liverpool – Joseph Gomez, Ragnar Klavan, Joel Matip Adam Lallana (all injured)
Possible Lineups
Everton (4-2-3-1) – Pickford; Coleman – Keane – Williams – Baines; Gueye – Schneiderlin; Walcott – Rooney – Bolasie; Tosun
Liverpool (4-3-3) – Karius; Alexander-Arnold – Lovren – Dijk – Moreno; Milner – Henderson – Wijnaldum; Chamberlain – Firmino – Mane
Hrayr Ghahriyan
Freelance Journalist