The 246th Merseyside Derby!

It’s the reverse fixture of the Merseyside Derby as the Toffees travel across Stanley Park to face league leaders Liverpool, who will be hungry to avoid a similar scenario to the one at Goodison. There is no need to go into the finer details of what occurred on that evening at the Grand Old Lady, but the pandemonium of James Tarkowski’s volley into the top right-hand corner summarised what a Merseyside Derby means. Red cards for Doucouré, Jones, and even Liverpool's manager, Arne Slot. However, that is now in the past, and over the last few weeks, David Moyes has taken Everton clear of the relegation zone, going 10 Premier League matches unbeaten, including 4 wins and 5 draws; this being the Blues’ longest run without a defeat since February 2017.

Also, the issue that Moyes has seemed to solve was the problem with scoring goals. Before the Scottish manager’s arrival, Everton scored one goal in six games, which was completely unacceptable for a Premier League side. Now, over the last 9 consecutive league matches, the Toffees have scored in every game. Although the Blues have impressed of late, the case is slightly different for the Reds.

In the last couple of months, Arne Slot’s side has exited the Champions League on penalties against French giants Paris Saint-Germain and the FA Cup extremely early on, as League Two side Plymouth Argyle beat Liverpool 1-0. On the other hand, Slot has been guiding his squad to Premier League glory. The Reds sit nine points clear of second-place Arsenal, with the Merseyside Derby being Liverpool’s game in hand, as Arsenal defeated Fulham 2-1 last night. Throughout the duration of the 29 games Liverpool has played so far in the Premier League campaign, they have only lost 1. 

Every game week, it seems Slot’s side are getting ever closer and closer to deservingly being awarded as league champions for this season with no threat or pressure from teams below them. The opportunity to further increase the probability of ending the 5-year league drought, with the last time Liverpool winning the league being in the 2019-20 season under the management of Jürgen Klopp, is by overcoming the Toffees under the lights at Anfield. One thing is clear this season: it is going to take time for their new gaffer to adapt to the severity of these fixtures. The underestimation of the Merseyside Derby, letting emotions take control, led to his sending off, as well as the atmosphere at Plymouth's ground, Home Park Stadium, and the PSG ultras in the Anfield away end supporting Luis Enrique and his players to see them through.

Premier League fixtures have been at a halt for a while due to cup fixtures and the international break, with many players from both Merseyside clubs featuring. For the Toffees, Beto, Jake O’Brien, Harrison Armstrong (currently on loan at Derby County), Vitalii Mykolenko, Jesper Lindstrøm, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Jordan Pickford, and Armando Broja all represented their nations, and so did Jarrad Branthwaite, being picked for England’s under-21 setup, sparking some controversy on social media with various people asking the question of why such a top talent would not be selected for the first team, as any Everton fan would tell you the 22-year-old at least deserves a chance! On the other hand, Liverpool had 26 players playing for their countries! What comes with so many players partaking in games away in other nations is the threat of injury, and this was the case for Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson. On March 21st, Alisson collided with Colombian defender Davinson Sanchez and was therefore substituted due to concussion. Now 12 days later, Alisson is required to be tested; however, he is expected to feature in-between the sticks for the Reds.

As the Toffees prepare for the future and look to build upon the positives around the squad, the Friedkin Group is making some big decisions, with Everton not triggering the one-year contract extension for Mali attacker Abdoulaye Doucouré. Preparing to move into the beautiful stadium situated on Bramley Moore Dock, Everton has to test if they can deal with a different range of capacities inside the ground, therefore leading to some test events with Everton’s academy teams having the opportunity. On 23rd March, Everton welcomed 25,000 fans into the stadium for a second test event, with Everton under-21s beating Bolton Wanderers B 1-0, before a planned evacuation occurred around the 65-minute mark.

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Premier League Gameweek 30 Fixtures:

Tuesday 1st April:

Arsenal 2-1 Fulham

Wolves 1-0 West Ham

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Man United

Wednesday 2nd April:

Bournemouth 19:45 Ipswich Town

Brighton 19:45 Aston Villa

Man City 19:45 Leicester

Newcastle 19:45 Brentford

Southampton 19:45 Crystal Palace

Liverpool 20:00 Everton

Thursday 3rd April:

Chelsea 20:00 Tottenham

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Thank you for reading my pre-match article!