Everton and Liverpool looking to bounce back in final Goodison Park Merseyside derby
Everton and Liverpool will lock horns once again on Wednesday in the final Merseyside derby to be held at Goodison Park.
The Premier League clash comes just days after both sides suffered FA Cup exits and one of them was the biggest shock of the fourth round.
The Championship’s bottom side Plymouth Argyle beat league leaders Liverpool 1-0 at Home Park thanks to a Ryan Hardie penalty early in the second half.
Arne Slot fielded a second string side in the cup tie, potentially with one eye already on Wednesday’s derby, with the vast majority of starting players for Premier League games, including Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, absent from the squad entirely.
But it was still a strong side, with the likes of Diego Jota and Luis Diaz in the starting XI, and few would have predicted the Reds exit..
Slot reacted to the defeat by praising Plymouth for their ‘good game plan’ and said he had no regrets about starting a weakened team.
He said: “You never know what will happen if we would have played with our starters over here.
“(They had) a system, a way of playing, a playing style that is quite hard to create chances against.”
Everton bowed out of the competition after a 2-0 loss to in-form Bournemouth at Goodison Park, with goals coming courtesy of Antoine Semenyo and Daniel Jebbison.
It was Everton’s first defeat in four after a good run of results under David Moyes, who replaced Sean Dyche last month.
The Scotsman said that his side conceded ‘two dreadful goals’.
He continued: “The most important thing for us is to make sure we’re a Premier League club. It would have been nice to get to a cup final – it wasn’t like we gave it up.”
As Moyes alluded to post-match, Everton must now focus solely on the league and specifically the final Merseyside derby at the place they have called home for 133 years, before they move into their new ground, Everton Stadium, at Bramley-Moore Dock in the summer.
The Toffees were victorious the last time the two sides met in April last year, claiming a 2-0 win in Jurgen Klopp’s final derby as Reds manager – Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were on the scoresheet that day.
With Liverpool flying high at the top of the table and Everton languishing in 16th – albeit having turned a corner since Moyes’ arrival – the odds are stacked against a similar outcome unfolding midweek.
Everton will be without several key players on Wednesday. Nathan Patterson has been ruled out with a hamstring injury while first choice left Vitalii Mykolemko is a doubt. Club captain Seamus Coleman could be absent due to a calf issue.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Armando Broja and Youssef Chermirti are all set to miss out and Dwight McNeil is recovering from recent knee surgery.
On-loan midfielder Orel Mangala suffered a season-ending injury two weeks ago in the 1-0 win at Brighton.
Carlos Alcaraz, who joined on deadline day from Brazilian side Flamengo, could be in line for a first start at his new club after making his debut as a substitute in the 65th minute against Bournemouth.
As for Liverpool, defender Joe Gomez was forced off in their shock defeat to the Pilgrims on Sunday.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s return date remains unknown – he was injured in the Reds’ 2-0 win at Bournemouth.
Curtis Jones could return, though – Slot opted not to play him despite being named on the bench as the midfielder told him he wasn’t feeling totally match fit.
Kick off for the derby is 7.30pm kick off.
Head to Head
The last five meeting between Everton and Liverpool:
- 24 April 2024: Everton 2-0 Liverpool
- 2 October 2023: Liverpool 2-0 Everton
- 13 February 2023: Liverpool 2-0 Everton
- 3 September 2022: Everton 0-0 Liverpool
- 24 April 2022: Liverpool 2-0 Everton
