Everton welcome Liverpool to Goodison Park on Saturday with the home side having won all of their Premier League games so far this season. Carlo Ancelotti’s team have made the perfect start to their season; sitting atop the table and progressing to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Their toughest test of the season so far comes as the reigning Premier League champions cross Stanley Park to face their city rivals. Jurgen Klopp’s team lost 7-2 to Aston Villa in their last league outing and have had two weeks to mull over the uncharacteristic defeat.
Ancelotti previewed the match, spoke of the latest injury news and reiterated Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s impressive start to the season.
On 10 year derby drought
The Merseyside derby is normally a local affair but this time, with the top-placed team facing the current champions, it is somewhat bigger. On face value it is the most interesting derby for some years. Everton last beat Liverpool 10 years ago to the day and Ancelotti knows that’s a record his team could address in such fine form.
“Everyone knows how important the derby is,” he said. “Everyone knows how important this game is for this period, we want to keep this period good for the future. We don’t need Seamus [Coleman, the captain] to speak to his team-mates for them to know how important this game is.”
Everton go into the encounter with the best chance of ruffling Liverpool’s feathers for some time. Yet Ancelotti warned that his team must beware of the quality that they are facing. “Liverpool, as usual, play with a lot of intensity and quality. This will be the opponent we play tomorrow, so we have to pay attention. We have to be confident to be able to show our quality.”
On Klopp’s praise
Klopp has lavished praise on Everton by saying that they could possibly be Liverpool’s challengers for the title in the near future given the key signings that they have made and the quality of the manager. Ancelotti was pleased with the praise that his side received from the Liverpool manager: “I want to say thanks to him. To be a challenger for Liverpool could be really good for us, but Liverpool are doing so well. I think we are not so far but still far from them.”
It was put to Ancelotti that there seems to be a good relationship between the current Everton and Liverpool managers. “We are good friends,” he replied. “I feel good when I am with him, we don’t have a lot of time of course to talk because we are really busy. He’s a fantastic man, he brings energy to me when I’m with him. I have a lot of respect for him."
On playing early after an international break
The 12.30 slot on the Saturday after an international break is often laced with dullness. It is difficult for the players to readjust from their international teams to domestic ones having travelled back from all corners of the world, even more so if three games have been played in the space of seven days as they have this time.
“I think every team has had players that played in the break,” Ancelotti said. “The important thing for us was they came back without problems. Maybe they are a little bit tired, so this could be a consideration when choosing the line-up.”
Yerry Mina is deemed fit to play against Liverpool having gone off during international duty with Colombia. “He’s OK,” Ancelotti confirmed. “He trained today without problem. He had a little problem in training before the last game but he’s rested and he’s OK for tomorrow. It’s true that they [James Rodriguez and Mina] came back yesterday but we are going to use this time to recover.”
On Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Calvert-Lewin scored on his England debut against Wales at Wembley to cap off an impressive start to the season for the Everton forward. Ancelotti has instilled confidence in him and hopes that his attitude continues to take him to new heights.
“I think he’s in a good moment, he showed a good quality with the national team and I’m happy for this. He’s back with the same condition and the same attitude.”
Calvert-Lewin will hope to breach a Liverpool defence that conceded seven goals against Aston Villa two weeks ago and three against Leeds United in the opening game of the season. “In general there were a lot of goals in the past games,” Ancelotti said when questioned about the high scoring numbers.
“The fact there is no crowd, maybe you are less worried about defending, you want to attack. But I think that’s going to change, teams in future are going to be more focused defensively.”