Liverpool 5-2 Everton
Liverpool preserved their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League tonight with an entertaining derby day victory over Everton.
It was a big game for under fire Toffees’ boss Marco Silva, and one the Reds will be glad to get over with.
Manchester City certainly didn’t look like they’d given up on the title, dismantling Burnley at Turf Moor last night with some top-notch football and finishing. But after another spectacular win for the Reds, the Premier League 2019 betting odds heavily back a Mersey title.
In a breathtaking first half, Liverpool raced into a 4-1 lead before Everton pulled one back on the stroke of half time. But while Jurgen Klopp’s team marches on, Marco Silva’s Toffees are in the bottom three.
Highlights of the game
Liverpool made five changes from the team which beat Brighton and one of them, Divock Origi, banged a goal in on six minutes. It was a sublime pass by Sadio Mane which put the striker in and he took it past Jordan Pickford and poked the ball home to cue bedlam in the Kop.
The Belgian striker famously scored a 96th-minute winner in this fixture last season. He likes playing the Toffees and, with no Roberto Firmino or Mo Salah in the side, he took his chance to shine.
And ten minutes later it was two when the Reds put together a beautiful move. Trent Alexander-Arnold went route one with a 60-yard ball forward and Mane picked it up again feeding Xherdan Shaqiri and the cool Swiss winger slid the ball home.
Silva looked distraught, but he had cause to smile briefly five minutes later when centre-back Michael Keane pulled one back. Alex Iwobi swung a ball into the box and when Dejan Lovren failed to clear Keane was on hand to finish from a tight angle.
Football can be a cruel game and it’s the hope that kills you! And it was Origi again who pretty much killed off Everton’s hopes with only half an hour on the clock. It was another long ball from Lovren, which Origi pulled down brilliantly before lobbing it over the advancing Pickford.
Mane had a sensational first half and he topped it off just before half time with a goal of his own.
After an Everton corner, Liverpool broke out quickly and Alexander-Arnold drove forward before passing to Mane on the edge of the penalty area and he curled a beauty into the corner.
But there was still time for the Toffees to halve the deficit again, and this time it was Richarlison meeting a cross from Lucas Digne with his shoulder before watching the ball bounce into the corner.
With Alisson sent off in the recent win over Brighton and suspended for the next three games, it gave Liverpool reserve keeper Adrian his chance to stake a claim. However, he had let in the only two Everton efforts on target.
He had a couple of regulation saves early in the second half, one from a Richarlison header and then a second from a Tom Davies shot.
Liverpool almost made it five when Jordan Henderson played a 30-yard ball forward. Sadio Mane latched onto it everyone in the ground expected the net to bulge, but he side-footed the ball the wrong side of the post.
Everton put up a better show in the second half, but that’s little consolation for their fans or their manager. His night ended with another blow when Georginio Wijnaldum fired home on 90 minutes.
Key statistics
In the first half, there were six shots on target and six goals – the most ever in the first half of a Premier League Merseyside derby. The first 45 minutes took up more than its fair share of tonight’s Premier League 2019 highlights and the second half couldn’t possibly live up to it.
The stats make miserable reading for the Everton boss. His team has never won in the Premier League when they have fallen behind, and the Toffees haven’t won a league game at Anfield in 20 years.
But for the Reds, Liverpool are the only team to have scored in every league fixture and the Reds are unbeaten in 20 in all competitions against Everton.
Klopp’s smiling again having logged his 100th Premier League win.
What’s next?
The Reds have two tricky away trips to contend with now.
First, it’s a league fixture on the South Coast to face Bournemouth. Eddie Howe’s Cherries are inconsistent but dangerous on their home soil. Then it’s off to Salzburg to try to complete the job in Group E of the Champions League.
They’ll need to look out for hotshot Erling Braut Haaland, and we’ll be right there with all the latest action at SBOBET.
It doesn’t get a whole lot easier for Everton. The Toffees are at home to Chelsea before taking a short trip down the East Lancs Road to face Manchester United at Old Trafford.
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