Merseyside Derby Look Ahead

This Saturday’s Merseyside derby will be an historic one —the final Merseyside Derby played at Everton’s Goodison Park. Built in 1892, Goodison was the first major football stadium built in England and has been a big part of Everton’s identity as a club. With the Toffees set to move into their ultra-modern stadium for the start of the 2025/26 season, will Sean Dyche’s side give Goodison Park a proper send off?

In the last couple of weeks, Arne Slot's Liverpool have bashed Real Madrid and then dominated Manchester City. Pep was rattled again which is always good to see.

But, realistically, can Sean Dyche’s struggling Everton team get a result against Arne Slot’s Liverpool? Sure, it’s a derby and mad things can and do happen. But, if you’ve watched both of these teams this season, particularly over the last few weeks, you’ll know it could get real ugly for Everton on Saturday afternoon.

Derby breakdown ⚔️ Everton vs Liverpool

• Venue: Goodison Park

• Date: Saturday 7th December

• Kick-off: 12:30 GMT

At the time of writing, Liverpool are 9 points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and far and away the best team this season. just look at the gap between 2nd-place Arsenal and 6th-place Nottingham Forest: it’s only 3 points.

Liverpool are leaving the chasing pack in the dust, and the gap could grow even bigger as there are midweek games before the Merseyside Derby on Sunday. Liverpool have a trip up to Newcastle on Wednesday, whilst Everton have a massive home game against Wolves.

Everton are in 17th, just 2 points ahead of Wolves in 18th. Everton’s game against Wolves on Wednesday night is therefore massive. It will be interesting to see how Dyche approaches the game against Wolves —they can’t lose at home to a direct relegation rival, but if they risk it and lose the game against Wolves, the mood in Goodison will be rotten on Saturday. But, being reqlistic Dyche and the players will know that they are more likely to take points from Wolves on Wednesday than from Liverpool on Saturday…

If they do lose the game against Wolves tonight, Everton will be sucked back into the middle of the relegation whirlpool. The pressure will ramp up a level, the board will get nervous, the fans will be on the players back: all not ideal before the biggest home game of the season for Everton.

Head-to-Head & Current Form 📅

Looking at the historical head-to-head across all competitions, you won’t be surprised to learn that Liverpool have dominated the Merseyside Derby. Going back to 1894, Everton have won the Merseyside Derby 84 times whilst Liverpool have 125 wins, with 86 draws in that time.

If we look at the Premier League era, there’s been 64 Merseyside Derbies: Liverpool have won 28, Everton have won 11, and the fixture has ended in a draw 25 times. Everton fans might not admit it, but a combative draw is almost seen as a win.

The most recent Merseyside Derby back in April 2024 threw up an interesting result. Also played at Goodison Park, the game took place towards the end of the 2023/24 season, with Everton fighting hard in the relegation battle. Everton took a 2-nil win, with goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. At the time, this was a huge result that played a big part in keeping Sean Dyche’s men in the Premier League.

Going into Saturday’s derby, the form of each of these teams could not be further apart. Everton are going through a rough period with 3 draws and 2 losses from their last 5 Premier League games. There’s the game against Wolves to come on Wednesday night, but the most recent outing was a 4-nil battering at Man United.

At the other end of the form scale, Liverpool are absolutely flying. There’s been 4 wins and 1 draw from their last 5 league games, with the draw coming away at Arsenal and the most recent win being the big 2-nil win over Man City. Liverpool have a trip up to Newcastle on Wednesday but with confidence levels high and a fully fit squad, Liverpool will fancy themselves against a Newcastle team that has dropped off physically.

Tactical breakdown 🎯

Despite playing at home, Everton will adopt a pragmatic approach. Sean Dyche prioritises defensive organisation, physicality and a compact shape so Everton will look to frustrate Liverpool and take opportunities that come from set pieces and counterattacks.

To reduce the risk of getting caught in the transition by Liverpool, Everton will employ a direct style of play, utilising long balls to exploit spaces behind Liverpool’s defensive line. As well as direct play, set-pieces are a significant part of Everton's attacking threat, with Dyche asking his players to capitalise on the height and power of players like Jarrad Braithwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

GR Everton predicted lineup | Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Doucoure, Gueye, Lindstrom, McNeil, Ndiaye, Calvert-Lewin

Under Arne Slot, Liverpool have maintained the high-intensity pressing style that Jurgen Klopp introduced to the club. Where Slot’s team seems to be improving is in the decision making when transitioning from defence to attack. When Liverpool do win the ball back they are able to quickly overwhelm opposition defences with their pace and quick interplay up top.

The midfield also deserves a mention as it has been solid this season, with Ryan Gravenberch being the stand out midfielder. After inconsistent performances last season, Liverpool’s full-backs, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson also deserve a mention. Against an Everton team that will sit deep in a low block, Slot will ask his full backs to provide width, switch the play to each other, and cut back plenty of low crosses to the edge of the Everton box.

GR Liverpool predicted lineup | Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, MacAllister, Szobozlai, Diaz, Gakpo, Salah

Players to watch 👀

Mohamed Salah | 11 Goals & 7 Assists in the Premier League

There’s been plenty of talk about Salah’s contract situation this season, but there’s no doubting his consistent performance level in a Liverpool shirt. Salah has the most goal involvements for Liverpool this season and is ion track to score the most goals and provide the most assists this season.

Salah’s pace and ability to cut in from the left wing will test Everton’s left sided players; Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitalii Mykolenko. Interestingly, although Salah’s attacking stats have been on the up this season, his defensive work has dropped off slightly. It’s unclear if this is a tactical shift from Arne Slot or a sign that 32-year old Salah is changing his game.

Jarrad Branthwaite | 0 Goals & 0 Assists in the Premier League

Although he hasn’t contributed much going forward this season, at 6’5” Branthwaite is a goal threat for Everton at set pieces. Quick, good in the air, and with the anticipation that allows his to read the game and play on the front foot

Branthwaite can play off both sides but being naturally left-footed, he plays as the left centre-back in Everton’s back four. After making a few mistakes in Everton’s defeat to Man United last weekend, it will be interesting to see how the 22-year old deals with Mo Salah’s pace and change of direction on Saturday.

Ryan Gravenberch | 0 Goals & 1 Assist in the Premier League

Now into his second season with Liverpool, Gravenberch has emerged as an elite holding midfielder under Arne Slot. He can play with the intensity and physicality that is required in the Premier League, but coming through the Ajax youth setup, he’s also got the technical fundamentals to play a forward pass and dribble his way out of trouble.

This season, Grevenberch has kicked on and silenced the doubts around whether or not he can affect the big games against top-quality opposition. He’s being doing bits all season, but his performances against Real Madrid and then Manchester City were elite.

Dwight McNiel | 3 Goals & 3 Assists in the Premier League

With Dominic Calvert-Lewin still not firing for Everton, Dwight McNiel has emerged as Everton’s main attacking threat. Worryingly, the club has only managed 10 goals in 13 games this season —along with Southampton, that’s the lowest goal scored tally in the Premier League and Southampton are rock bottom of the league.

McNiel is all left foot, but he can play a pass and put in a decent cross. Liverpool will have more of the ball, so McNiel will have plenty of defensive work to do tracking back, but there will also be opportunities for him to get behind Trent on the counter.

Top goal scorers ⚽️

As we’ve mentioned already, Everton aren’t scoring many goals. It’s like they never recovered after selling Richarlison to Tottenham back in 2022, but they really need Calvert-Lewin to step up and start taking chances. Tp be fair to him, he hasn’t had too much to work with.

Liverpool have scored 26 goals in their 13 Premier League games, with Salah leading the way followed by Diaz and Diogo Jota. The most goals Liverpool have scored in a Premier League season was in the 2013/14 season under Brendan Rogders when they scored 101 in 38 games.

Most assists 🎯

Everton’s assists are shared across the team with midfielders like McNiel and defenders, including Ashley Young and Michael Keane chipping in with assists.

Liverpool’s assists mainly come from their front three who are linking up nicely and playing off each other after Liverpool regain possession of the ball. With his goal and assist against against Manchester City last weekend, Mo Salah equaled Wayne Rooney on 36 Premier League games in which he has both scored and assisted.

Most fouls / yellow cards 🟨

Everton have picked up a total of 21 yellow cards so far this season, with the majority shared between the defenders. Jordan Pickford is one for doing something daft in the derby and could be a good shout to pick up a card on Saturday.

Interestingly, Liverpool have a worse disciplinary record than Everton and the squad have picked up a total of 26 yellows so far this season. The yellows are spread out rhoughout the team with midfielders and forward players picking up more yellows, highlighting Liverpool’s style of defending from the front.

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