Liverpool 1-0 Everton - Thrilling climax to a tense Merseyside derby! The Reds stay within 2pts of City - Match Review

Manchester City were the only team from the top 6 in action on Saturday and they put the pressure on by recording a comfortable 3-1 victory against Bournemouth to extend their lead at the top of the table. Chelsea managed to respond to their first defeat of the season by instantly returning to winning ways with a 2-0 win over Fulham while Arsenal came back from behind to romp to a 4-2 victory over Tottenham, leapfrogging their London rivals into 3rd place. Liverpool would have to wait until all that was over before taking on their local rivals in the Merseyside derby and there was plenty of pressure leading into it. A defeat would see them sucked into a battle between the 3 London clubs in their battle for Champions League places while a victory would close the gap to Manchester City back down to just 2 points and remain firmly in the hunt for the title.

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Jurgen Klopp went for the 4-2-3-1 formation and as expected brought Trent Alexander Arnold back into the side and moved Gomez back into the centre in place of Lovren. Jordan Henderson served the first match of his suspension and so Fabinho started in the defensive midfield role alongside Wijnaldum and James Milner was dropped in place of Xerdan Shaqiri took up position on the right side of the attack opposite Sadio Mane on the left with Firmino taking the role just behind Salah who played alone up front. Everton manager Marco Silva named an unchanged team from his previous victory and set them out in the same formation as Liverpool.

Despite not having won at Anfield in years Everton turned up quite confident and showed they were coming with the intent on giving Liverpool a real challenge. Sadio Mane looked to cause them a few problems early on but couldn't quite find the right ball to find Mo Salah. The first big chance came to Everton from a free-kick swung in by Digne, it found the head of defender Yerry Mina who'd timed his run perfectly to get free and should have buried it into the goal but he sent the ball wide. Minutes later Mane was back in the box again and received a wonderful 1 touch pass from Salah to send the Senegal man through one on one with Pickford but he smacked the ball over the bar from close range. It was a first half which saw plenty of action at both ends of the pitch with Everton coming closes to breaking the deadlock when Andre Gomes point-blank header was stopped initially by Alisson and then cleared off the line by Joe Gomez before anyone could follow up and tap it in. Liverpool created plenty of attacks but struggled to get anything on target to really test Jordan Pickford with the only save he had to make coming from a long-range curling effort from Firmino. Theo Walcott thought he was in late on in the half when he made a run inside the box and tried to take the ball around the Liverpool keeper, but Alisson got a hand to it and ensured that the sides went into the halftime interval level at 0-0.

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Liverpool were the most threatening team at the start of the second half with Sadio Mane getting a good chance and Mo Salah having a shot from outside the box with his left foot but neither were able to put the ball on target and the game remained goalless. It was an intense game and the longer it went on without a goal the nervier the atmosphere felt. Everton brought on Lookman for Walcot and Klopp decided to switch the system back to 4-3-3 and sent on Keita in place of Shaqiri, the side barely had time to get into their new positions before he made a second substitution bringing Sturridge on in place of Salah. The Egyptian didn't manage to score but I felt he had a decent game creating some good chances and showed great physical strength when standing up to the much larger Yerry Mina. With 5 minutes plus injury time left to play Klopp went for his final roll of the dice sending on Divkock Origi in place of Firmino, the Belgian striker had previously scored twice against Everton before but had only played 10 minutes for Liverpool this season in the 4-0 win over Red Star Belgrade. The system was changed yet again with Liverpool playing with 2 strikers up front and it seemed to be effective as the game drew to a close they were the ones looking most likely to score.

From a late corner Virgil van Dijk headed the ball down and it fell to Origi who swiped at it with the outside of his boot but could only hit it against the frame of the goal. It was cleared out of the box and fell to Daniel Sturridge who struck it first time with a ferocious volley, it was on target but never made it to the goal as it hit against the hand of Gylfi Sigurdsson leading to shouts from the Liverpool supporters of handball. There have been instances similar to this where penalties have been awarded by the ref, however, I think it would have been a harsh one to give. Sigurdsson did have his arm out away from his body but was in the process of landing having jumped to clear the ball moments earlier, the speed at which Sturridge hit it left him no time to react so I think it was fair not to award the penalty. Origi was making an impact and picked up the ball out wide in space to run into, he sent a low cross in finding Mane but he was being closely marked and blasted the shot over under the pressure.

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It looked very much like the game was going to end with the score 0-0 when in the 95th minute Liverpool were given a free-kick deep inside their own half. With just seconds left and knowing this was going to be their last chance they sent everybody up to get into the box. As Trent Alexander Arnold stood over it Alisson ran from his goal and took the free kick short to give the rights back a better angle to send the ball into the box. It was headed away to Virgil van Dijk on the edge of the 18-yard box who made a complete mess of his attempt to volley the ball back towards the goal instead slicing it and sending it high up into the air. The big Dutchman turned away in disgust and most of the players began to make their way back up the field, however, the ball came straight back down right above the goal line. Jordan Pickford attempted to tip it out of play, however, could only hit it onto the crossbar and the spin of the ball from Van Dijks sliced shot caused it to come back into play. Divkock Origi was one of the few players who had stayed alert and was right on the line as the ball fell from the bar and he was able to just guide it over the line with his ear, sending the whole of Anfield into an eruption of noise. Jurgen Klopp was so caught up in the moment that he forgot where he was and ran onto the pitch, meeting Alisson on the halfway line and embracing him in a giant hug.

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It was a bizarre goal but the reaction of Klopp and the players showed just how important it was as Liverpool saw out the remaining few moments to seal the 1-0 victory. The victory sees them go back within 2 points of leaders Manchester City and remain in the hunt for the league title. But regardless of what happens over the rest of the season, this will be a Merseyside derby Liverpool fans will never forget. Like many games this season the performance was not too great but Liverpool managed to get the all-important result. The league is now entering the busiest period of the season as the games start to come thick and fast, Liverpool will not have too long to revel in this victory as they go to Burnley on Wednesday night for a midweek league game.