Ten years to the day since they last won against Liverpool, Everton are hosting another Merseyside derby in the Premier League (PL). In top form heading into the big match, Everton has won seven straight matches in a row for the first time since 1894! Strangely, the eighth match in that sequence was the inaugural derby at Goodison Park, which Everton won 3-0, and then went on to finish second in the league that year!
More currently, however, Everton is without a win in 22 matches against Liverpool (D11, L11), across which they’ve failed to score in 12, and scored just 0.68 goals per match on average. Yet, Everton have scored 3.43 goals on average across their seven competitive matches this season, and their last five have featured over 2.5 total goals and both teams scoring.
Liverpool, meanwhile, had to enter the international break on the back of a shock 7-2 defeat, which made them the first reigning champions to concede seven in a top-flight match since Arsenal in 1953. So too was it Jürgen Klopp’s biggest defeat in 876 managerial matches?
In turn, Liverpool’s last 12 PL matches have averaged 4.42 total goals. Furthermore, their tally of 11 conceded goals after four league rounds (2.75 on average) is their worst defensive start since 1937. In addition, they have also kept just one clean sheet across their last nine PL matches.
Despite this, one conceded goal is seldom enough to stop the ‘Reds’, as they’ve scored two goals or more in six straight PL matches. However, none of their last six PL visits here have featured over 2.5 goals, and four of those finished 0-0!
Players to watch: Everton’s blue flame of hope, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, has ten goals across eight matches for club and country this season.
A talisman in the red corner, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has now scored two goals or more in his three last goalscoring outings.
Hot stat: November 2013 (D 3-3) remains the last time Everton led at any point in a game vs Liverpool, and April 2012 (L 2-1) is the last time they scored first in this fixture.
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