Everton will travel across Stanley Park to play out of form Liverpool in the rescheduled Merseyside Derby.
This meeting at Anfield will be the 217th between the local rivals and carries with it a few more pub facts, for the keen statistician. Everton boss David Moyes will have officially been at the club for a decade come Wednesday and what better way to celebrate such a landmark than to win the derby and go one point clear of strugglers Liverpool. The Reds slumped to their third straight league defeat on Saturday, away to Sunderland, who along with Everton, are now only two points below Kenny Dalglish’s team. The loss against the Black Cats meant Liverpool are now on their worst league run since 2003 and ironically, the last time they lost four on the bounce was ten years ago, in 2002.
Continuing the stat theme, Liverpool’s skipper, Steven Gerrard, will make his 400th Premier League appearance against the Toffees, if selected. Gerrard, who limped off with a hamstring injury whilst playing for England against Holland, made a substitute comeback in the defeat against Sunderland on Saturday. The Liverpool captain has labelled his team’s consistency as ‘not good enough’, which is an understatement considering their recent form. Dalglish will be hoping the Merseyside Derby will bring some fight and passion back out of his players, who have not been pulling their weight recently.
Liverpool’s League Cup success and their Quarter-Final FA Cup fixture against Stoke on Sunday, may highlight how they have built a team for competing in the domestic cup competitions and one that is lacking the quality to qualify and even play in the Champions League. Dalglish is working with a newly constructed team, who are showing signs that they have not yet jelled and are in need of some extra fire-power up front.
Everton will be going into the crunch derby fixture high in morale after defeating high-flying Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 on Saturday. An added incentive for Moyes’s men is to go a point clear of their rivals and to give the red half of the city a run for their money as the season approaches it’s final stages. The last time Everton finished above Liverpool in the league was seven years ago and if they can achieve a victory at Anfield and hold them off for ten more games, history may well repeat itself.
Predicted Line-ups
Liverpool (from): Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Enrique, Adam, Spearing, Downing, Gerrard, Bellamy, Suarez, Doni, Kelly, Coates, Shelvey, Henderson, Rodriguez, Kuyt, Carroll.
Everton (from): Howard, Heitinga, Baines, Distin, Hibbert, Neville, Cahill, Drenthe, Osman, Fellaini, Stracqualursi, Jelavic, Coleman, Barkley, Jagielka, Anichebe, Gueye, Mucha, Rodwell, Pienaar, Vellios.
