Go back to the early days of the 2010/11 season and then, just as now, Everton had failed to win any of their first four games of the Premier League campaign. An underwhelming start persisted back then with David Moyes’ team losing and drawing two further matches before they finally collected their maiden victory.
As the land lies now, Frank Lampard’s side have three points to their name and are once again in need of an uplift. Harking back to 2010/11, Everton can look fondly on the first Merseyside derby of that season, in which they defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Goodison Park in October. Something similar will be very much welcomed when the two teams meet on Saturday.
That triumph over Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool is the last time that Everton got the better of their city rivals on home turf. Goodison Park will be up for the fight this time around, backing a manager who they trust and a side that put in a performance of grit and determination at Elland Road on Tuesday to secure a third draw of the campaign and hint at slight improvements.
If Lampard is to endear himself to the home gallery further by preventing Liverpool from claiming a third league win on the spin, then he will surely revert to the playbook used when the two met at Anfield last season. Everton tried to frustrate their hosts that day as Liverpool pushed for the league title. It was a fractious match, full of stoppages instigated by the visitors, with Liverpool managing to score twice in the final 30 minutes.
Even against Leeds this week, Jesse Marsch accused Everton of time-wasting from the first minute. Clearly, Lampard wants his team to bring dark arts to their routine, but must be weary of Liverpool’s 98th-minute winner against Newcastle United which, Klopp thought, was the perfect response to their own attempts to delay play.
Recent derby games at Everton have been sub-par affairs: four of the last five have been drawn — three of them goalless — Klopp has overseen eight derby draws in total and admitted they are often “intense, with a lot of fight”.
Liverpool’s 4-1 win last term, which was a major nail in the coffin of Rafa Benitez’s short Everton tenure, is thus an outlier. The architect of that victory was Jordan Henderson, but the Liverpool captain will be denied a 20th derby appearance this weekend having sustained a ‘serious’ hamstring injury in midweek.
Losing another midfielder to the treatment table — along with Curtis Jones, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain — has led to the signing of Artur Melo on a season-long loan deal from Juventus. The Brazilian won’t be available for this one as his international clearance is yet to come through. James Milner will likely replace Henderson as both starter and captain.
'We have to match supporters' passion'
New signings will still adorn this 241st Merseyside derby as Everton have ended up with eight acquisitions this summer and a heavy focus on midfield where Idrissa Gueye has been re-signed and James Garner brought in from Manchester United. Amadou Onana should get his first home start having been in the starting lineup in Everton’s last two away games.
Yet it will be the sight of Anthony Gordon still wearing the blue of Everton — rather than Chelsea — that will encourage the gathering supporters most. The 21-year-old’s two goals in the past two games have earned Everton two of their three points, and the local lad will need little encouragement to take the game to Liverpool. “We have to match the passion the supporters will turn up with,” said Lampard, who will experience his first derby at Goodison.
Everton’s beefed-up midfield, along with the reliable and confidence-inducing presence of James Tarkowski and Conor Coady in front of Jordan Pickford, give Everton hope. But Lampard’s team will have to do most of their work without the ball; they have seen only an average of 40 per cent possession across their five league games so far this season and that will likely fall against Klopp’s team. Making touches in the final third count will be crucial if Everton are to get anything from this game.
Also hoping to make the right impact in the final third will be Darwin Nunez, who is back available after serving his three-match ban for head-butting Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen during his Anfield debut. “When he got his suspension, we looked at it and saw the first game back was the derby,” Klopp said with a mischievous smile, but starting the Uruguayan will mean replacing Roberto Firmino, who has scored three goals whilst deputising.
After a sluggish start to the season, Klopp called the dramatic midweek triumph over Newcastle as “one of the best nights” and securing three successive wins, and crossing Stanley Park with the bragging rights, will provide a further boost. Keeping a second clean sheet in three league outings will also be on the agenda; particularly given Everton’s toothlessness up front, but Neal Maupey will look to address that when he makes his bow for his new club.
Home form was what kept Everton in the division last season, as they have won only one of their last 20 games on the road in the top flight, and securing the first three points of the campaign at home to the local rivals would be extra sweet for Lampard. They will hope the symmetry with 12 years ago stops at a derby win and not a fifth game without a victory.