England Round 15

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Everton vs Liverpool Preview:

Possible starting lineups:

Everton:
Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Ndiaye, Gueye, Mangala, Doucoure, McNeil; Calvert-Lewin

Liverpool:
Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Jones, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nunez, Luis Diaz

Everton will welcome Liverpool to Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime in the first Merseyside derby of the season. As usual, I will start my preview with some interesting historical infos. For those who don't know, Merseyside is the name of the river that divide the city. The match had been referred to as the "Merseyside derby" in at least one national newspaper in 1955. Traditionally, the Merseyside derby was referred to as the "Friendly Derby" because of the large number of families who have both Reds (Liverpool) and Blues (Everton) supporters in them. Nevertheless, the so called "Friendly Derby" has seen more Red cards (21) than any other in the Premier League history. Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and former Everton captain Phil Neville both saw red twice in derby games. Liverpool have better H2H record, but they suffered a shock defeat at Goodison Park in April. The defeat ended the title dreams for Liverpool.

Everton were deeply involved into the relegation battle last season, but managed to survive. The former Burnley manager Sean Dyche is most deserved for the success of the team. Everton remained in the top-flight division, so Dyche continued as head boss. The actual season also started poor, though the last results are better. On Wednesday they beat 4:0 Wolverhampton, ending a five-game winless run. The atmosphere in the squad is much better now, while the players confidence is higher. But Dyche has some injury issues ahead of the derby. Youssef Chermiti is still a week or two away from recovering, while midfielders James Garner and Tim Iroegbuman are rated as doubtful. Armando Broja made his Everton debut from the bench on Wednesday.

Liverpool sit on the first place with 35 points after the opening 14 matches. The Reds have seven points more than Chelsea and Arsenal, while Manchester City have 26. The last period was very successful for the Reds as they beat three champions - Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid and Manchester City. But every series will end soon or later and Liverpool dropped two points at St James Park. The final result was 3:3 and Mohamed Salah was the key name. He assisted the first, while scored the next two. However, the goalkeeper Kelleher was the key name after the huge mistake he did. Arne Slot now has to rebuild the players confidence. More important, he has to pick the 11 players. It won't be easy as many of them are unavailable. Alisson, Ibrahima Konate, Conor Bradley, Diogo Jota and Kostas Tsimikas are out injured, while Alexis Mac Allister is suspended.

Everton vs Liverpool Prediction:

This is a very important match for Everton, Super important. The reason is their difficult schedule. The Toffees will travel to Arsenal in the next round, host Chelsea a few days before Christmas, and go to Manchester City on Boxing Day. Dyche must put the focus on this match. He know the tactic very well, it's about set-pieces. All four goals against the Wolves came that way. Liverpool have a big issues in defense as Alisson and Ibrahima Konate are out injured, whole Kelleher is out of confidence after the huge mistake against Newcastle, a mistake that costed the team two important points. Liverpool players will be under heavy pressure and I think they will be happy to escape further injuries. Even if Liverpool win, the victory will probably be narrow.

Everton vs Liverpool Pick: Everton +1.5 AH @ 1.66 with Pinnacle