After qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League in style on Wednesday night against Spartak Moscow, the Reds now focus on the Merseyside derby with Everton at Anfield. These are always big occasions, with city pride at stake as derby fever takes over the whole of Liverpool.
Everton have had a very poor season so far after spending close to £150m in the summer in a bid to try to break into the top six and maybe even have a tilt at top four. Reality is, they didn’t spend wisely and have struggled to integrate all of their new summer signings and also failed to replace their main goalscorer of the previous few season, Romelu Lukaku.
The poor start to the campaign saw Ronald Koeman sacked as manager and David Unsworth promoted as caretaker manager, which also failed to deliver results. They now have the experienced Sam Allardyce in charge and he is sure to have them set up to negate us on Sunday, as he knows how to have a team organised.
Jurgen Klopp will make a few changes to the Liverpool starting line-up, as Simon Mignolet will return in goal and I also expect Jordan Henderson to return in midfield. Alberto Moreno is doubtful after going off injured during the week so James Milner and Andy Robertson will be vying to start at left back in his place,
I fully expect the quartet of Philippe Coutinho, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino to all start, as it will be important to have as much attacking prowess on the pitch as possible to try to break Everton down.
This is a game we should win. I acknowledge that Allardyce will have them in their banks of four, with probably ten men behind the ball at times and the onus is on Liverpool to pick holes and create opportunities to score and as much as he’ll have them doing the basics, this is still the same group of players that have conceded plenty of goals already this season and there is no reason why our quality won’t see us through and get us the three points.
I think a goal in each half will do it and Reds will run out fairly comfortable 2-0 winners.
Prediction:
Liverpool 2-0 Everton
(Mane, Firmino)
