Saturday 10th December 2017 Liverpool v Everton Football – England – Premier League The Merseyside derby is one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the English footballing calendar and this one is no different. Both Liverpool and Everton have had difficulties at times this campaign but there’s no doubt it’s the red half of the city who have more to shout about coming into this game. Liverpool are currently fourth and are unbeaten in their last six Premier League games, winning five of them, whilst Everton are very much at the beginning of their road to recovery under Sam Allardyce but they have won their last two in the league and will have sights on climbing the table as soon as possible.
It’s been an excellent week for Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp as they have continued their good run of form in the Premier League by thumping Brighton 5-1 away from home last Saturday before thrashing Spartak Moscow 7-0 to ensure they finished top of their Champions League group in style. It appears they may be finding some consistency at long last which has been their major barrier in the earlier part of the campaign. There is a swagger and confidence about Liverpool in attack at the moment and more importantly, they are much more clinical and able to take advantage of their dominance in games. There remains work to do defensively, of course, but if they can maintain this level of scoring which is very much in keeping with the number of chances they create in the majority of their games, then they will continue to keep putting teams to the sword and maintain their place in the top four. The league looks well beyond on them but there is certainly plenty of optimism surrounding the club just now.
Everton have had a disastrous campaign for the most part, both in the Premier League and in the Europa League. Ronald Koeman paid the price earlier in the season and his temporary replacement, David Unsworth, has also found it difficult to get this group of players. The Everton owners failed to get their first choice – at least – and have ended up going for the evergreen Sam Allardyce. It’s very likely that the former England manager will have a positive impact on the club’s fortunes but you have to question if he is the ambitious appointment that the owners and the supporters would have hoped for. Nevertheless, last weekend’s 2-0 win over Huddersfield was the perfect start for the new manager and although not present on Thursday night, his players recorded a comfortable 3-0 victory over Apollon to continue the winning run and extend it to three. It’s the first time that Everton have won three games in a row across all competitions in just over a year which highlights some of struggles they have had in that time. It’s hard to escape mentioning how much the club have spent in that time and the supporters will only hope that they are able to begin showing some of that expected quality on the pitch.
Liverpool v Everton Betting Tip
The week started with the news that these two will meet in January in the third round of the FA Cup giving us a third Merseyside derby of the season. That game will take care of itself in a month or so but there is plenty up for grabs when they clash at Anfield on Sunday. Liverpool are in a really good part of their season just now and their front four of Coutinho, Mane, Salah and Firmino now have the understanding and link up that we all expected for being four quality players. Everton have made some improvements in the last fortnight in terms of scoring goals as well as keeping clean sheets but they have faced three struggling teams so it’s hard to weigh up just how much improvement they have actually made. Allardyce will definitely make them harder to beat over time but this game may well come a bit soon for that change to really take effect.
Liverpool have been devastating of late and the pace they have in their team is their main asset. The criticism levelled at their opponents has been the lack of pace and that may be a key difference on Sunday. They remain unbeaten at home as well with four wins and three draws, whereas Everton have the opposite record having failed to win any of their seven away games in the league, taking a total of just three points from them. The hosts were far too good when the two clubs met at Anfield earlier in the season and they can prove to be so again with goals also expected.
Liverpool to win and over 2.5 goals in the game 8/11 @ Ladbrokes
