All the buildup for the big game on Sunday
It’s one of the first fixtures every football fan on Merseyside looks for first.
It’s known as the ‘friendly derby’, but when those teams take to the field as they will on Sunday, there’s never anything friendly about it.
Yes. The 225th Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool will be taking place at Goodison Park this Sunday.
As always, the game will always mean something extra to both sets of fans, it’s the game that divides families and friends in the city. If you find yourself in Liverpool City Centre on derby day, you have to decide whether you’re red or blue. And beyond all that, there’s still 3 points at stake in what is already a very tight Premier League season.
The situation lies like this, sitting in 5th, Everton are 3 places above rivals Liverpool, despite being only a point ahead after 7 games. For Everton, it’s a massive opportunity to gain a 4 point lead over the Reds and potentially climb above Arsenal and West Ham into 3rd.
Liverpool on the other hand will be looking to build on a tight win against Aston Villa at home last weekend, and Brendan Rodgers in particular will be needing a win to keep the momentum going and hopefully for him, in the long term, save his job. He is now the bookies’ favourite to get the sack next and a loss at his team’s city rivals will not sit well with all the Liverpool fans. A win for them, however, would catapult them above Everton and even possibly into the top 4
Liverpool fans will take confidence from the fact that in recent years they have rarely lost this fixture. In fact, they haven’t lost since October 2010, when Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta secured a 2-0 for the Blues at Goodison. Since then there have been 10 fixtures, resulting in 6 draws and 4 Liverpool wins, including big 3-0 and 4-0 wins at Anfield in 2012 and 2014 respectively, however, this time, Liverpool are missing Steven Gerrard, a potentially crucial influence.
November 2013 saw a classic of a game at Goodison, with the sides drawing 3-3 in a very attacking game. Liverpool also triumphed at Wembley 2-1 in the 2012 FA Cup semi-final, with goals from Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll.
The current form however heavily favours Everton, they haven’t lost any of their last 6 games, and have beaten Chelsea and West Brom in those fixtures, while Liverpool have had a slow start to the season and despite beating Villa last weekend, have lost to both Manchester United and West Ham in their last 6, and drawn at home to Norwich, putting Rodgers under mounts of pressure.
At the moment, both teams are 17/10 to win the game (odds through Paddy Power and accurate as of 1st October), while the odds are 9/4 to draw.
In terms of injuries, Liverpool are still missing captain Jordan Henderson, although striker Christian Benteke could make a return to the squad following a hamstring injury.
Everton have no fresh injury concerns.
The Merseyside derby will take place from 1:30 on Sky Sports 1 this Sunday afternoon at Goodison Park.
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
