Liverpool 2 Everton 0
There is no bigger game for the city in the Premier League season, one that divides family and friends. Form and league position goes out of the window when Liverpool and Everton meet each other and all that matters is the bragging rights the game offers.
Liverpool looked to play the ball out of defence early on and Everton won possession, McNeil whipped in a cross which was met by the head of Calvert-Lewin but his header was straight into the arms of Alisson. The finish was about as questionable as his dress-sense.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are often most dangerous when defending a corner. As The Toffees looked to create something, the hosts cleared their lines and countered. As the ball was played to Luis Diaz, he got his shot off but only a timely tackle from Ashely Young was able to deflect it behind for a corner.
Young was shown a yellow card soon after as the tricky Diaz danced passed him but the defender was having none of it as he chopped him to the ground. No arguments from anyone about that decision.
Credit: @premierleague
The Columbian winger was starting to cause Young some problems and he cut back onto his right foot, the cross half-cleared, Salah muscled the defender off the ball and looked to bend one in the top corner. Luckily for the visitors it just went over.
Diaz then twisted and turned, faced by Young and as he looked to glide passed him, the Everton right back chopped him down once again. The referee dwelled on his next decision before brandishing a second yellow card, condemning the ex-Man Utd man to an early bath.
As he stormed off the pitch, he told Jurgen Klopp what he thought of him on his way through, not the actions of a veteran 38-year-old professional at all. Either way, a tough game had just got a whole lot more difficult for Sean Dyche’s side.
The second-half started as a scrappy affair and as Onana looked to glide by Konate, he bundled into the player, with big cheers from the away end as the Liverpool man was shown a yellow card. He was now on the same tightrope Young had been walking in the first-half.
Liverpool had a series of stabs at goal but each time James Tarkowski put his body on the line to block the efforts. The Toffees’ centre back was single-handedly keeping his side in this game. You can see why he is such a favourite of the manager.
As an attack broke down for The Reds, Everton looked to counter and Beto turned Konate, the striker went to ground with the Everton players surrounding the referee. They felt as he had already been booked, he too should have received a second yellow card.
Credit: @LFC
This is where it comes to personal judgement. Every foul is not worthy of a yellow card, that is for sure, otherwise teams would have eight or nine players left on the pitch every week. Whether the arm across Beto was enough to send him hurtling to the ground is another question.
One thing is for sure, there was a very angry ginger man on the touchline. So much so that the Everton manager was himself shown a yellow card for his reaction. All the shouting he was doing at the referee, that voice will be a little more gravelly after this game.
This was only after Jurgen Klopp made the decision to substitute Konate before he ran the risk of receiving that second yellow card in the game. Wise move from the manager but Dyche felt it was one he should never have had the choice to make.
Diaz continued to torment Everton and as he checked back onto his right foot, he went to ground appealing for a penalty but the referee was not interested. Moments later he twisted and turned before crossing the ball, only to see it strike Michael Keane’s hand.
Craig Pawson is often at the centre of attention in his games, mainly due to his poor decision making but yet he still gets the top games. He adjudged it not to be handball on this occasion before the VAR studio whispered into his ear in a sexy voice ‘mate you’ve dropped a clanger there, go and watch some TV and make it look like you’ve had an eureka moment to change your mind!’
As Jordan Pickford readied himself for the spot-kick, he looked at his water bottle that had all his favourite Salah penalties written on it for inspiration. The ‘Egyptian King’ stepped up and sent the short-armed stopper the wrong way.
Once the deadlock had been broken, Harvey Elliott struck one from range but Pickford made a good save to tip it onto the crossbar and over. The England number one could just have kept his side in this game with that save.
As Everton tried to create something in the final third, it fizzled out and Liverpool broke with pace once again. Darwin Nunez strode through and rather unselfishly laid it on a plate for Salah to strike first time into the bottom corner. There was no way Pickford’s little velociraptor arms would reach that one.
Klopp’s side took all the points with Salah’s goal being the icing on the cake, deep in added time. Dyche will feel hard done by as he felt decisions did not go their way today. At least he could see the funny side of things in his post-match interview.
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