Anfield hosts its 100th league Merseyside derby on Sunday, with the home side having won 43 of the previous 99 and the last of the visitors 23 wins coming back in the last century.
It is the most played derby in English league football. In all competitions this will be encounter no. 232 with Liverpool winning 92 and losing 66 with 73 draws.
The teams met 3 times last season. In the first meeting at Anfield the outcome was a 1-1 league draw. Mo Salah netted a goal – voted FIFA Goal of the Year for 2018 – on 42 minutes before the Blues equalised with a controversial Wayne Rooney penalty 13 minutes from time.
The teams then met in the Third Round of the F.A. Cup less than a month later. Gylfi Sigurdsson equalised a James Milner penalty before Virgil van Dijk, making his debut, headed the Reds winner in front of the Kop with 6 minutes remaining.
In the league return at Goodison neither side could conjour up a goal. In that game Nathaniel Clyne made his first Liverpool appearance in almost a year while Danny Ings made his first league start in 916 days and his first under Jurgen Klopp.
Premier League record
In the Premier League there have been 52 encounters with Liverpool winning 22 and Everton 9. 21 have finished all-square.
At Anfield, Liverpool have won 12 of those games and lost 2, with 12 draws.
The Reds have lost just 3 of the last 37 meetings in the Premier League home and away – all at Goodison – and are unbeaten in the last 15.
The 15-game run without defeat constitutes a record between the sides.
Eight of the last 12 league derbies have ended in stalemate, with last season being the second in the last 4 that both games were drawn.
Home and away Liverpool have lost one of the last 23 league meetings – at Goodison in October 2010, with Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill scoring for the Blues.
At Anfield Liverpool are unbeaten in the last 18 top-flight meetings – both winning and drawing 9.
Seeing red
27 players have been sent off in Merseyside derby history – 9 from Liverpool and 18 Everton players. This after only 5 in the first 88 years. The last 4 Liverpool red cards in league matches have come in games they have gone on to win.
21 of those red cards have come in the 52 Premier League meetings between the clubs with 12 being dismissed in the last 27 tussles. The last to see red was Ramiro Funes Mori at Anfield in 2016.
The last Liverpool player sent off in a derby was Sotirios Kyrgiakos at Anfield in February 2010.
Current squad
Jurgen Klopp is unbeaten in 6 league and cup meetings with the Blues, winning 4 and drawing 2.
Daniel Sturridge has scored 7 career goals against the Blues in total with 4 coming in 7 games for Liverpool.
Virgil van Dijk is the last Liverpool player to score on his debut – in the F.A. Cup derby clash last January.
Since last Boxing Day, when he failed to register a goal against Swansea, he has found the net in all but 2 of Liverpool’s 15 league games at home, scoring 18 times in that sequence.
Xherdan Shaqiri‘s first goals in English football came against Everton – he scored twice in Stoke’s 4-3 win at Goodison in December 2015.
A goal from James Milner would see him become the eighth oldest Liverpool player ever to score against Everton (in all competitions) and the third oldest to do so in the Premier League after Gary McAllister (36 years 112 days) and Steven Gerrard (34 years 120 days). Milner would be 32 years 332 days old.
Mo Salah could make his 50th league appearance for Liverpool. He has scored 39 times. No other player in the last 120 years has netted as many goals for the Reds after 50 league games. One goal in his next appearance will see him equal the club record set by George Allan in September 1896.
Everton focus
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – Sunday, October 17, 2010: Liverpool’s Lucas Leiva and Everton‘s Tim Cahill during the 214th Merseyside Derby match at Goodison Park. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
The Blues’ last win at Anfield came in September 1999 when Kevin Campbell scored the winner 4 minutes into the game.
Everton have won 2 of their last 32 league visits to Anfield. As well as that victory in 1999 they also beat Liverpool on this ground in 1995 with Andrei Kanchelskis scoring both in a 2-1 victory.
Home and away Everton have not won in the last 17 clashes in all competitions, including last season’s F.A. Cup tie and the Wembley Semi-Final of 2012.
At Anfield they have not won in 20 visits in league and cup, with 18 of those coming in the league. It is the longest sequence in their history.
In 26 Premier League visits Everton have scored a total of 18 goals, while the Blues have kept one clean sheet in the last 11 league clashes on this ground.
Three players still at Goodison were in the Blues team the last time they beat Liverpool. Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka and Seamus Coleman all started that game in October 2010.
All of Everton’s 9 Premier League derby wins have come in the first fixture of the season.
Not since 2001-02 have Everton scored in the league at Anfield for a third successive season, while the last time they avoided defeat in a second consecutive away league derby was 2003-04.
Marco Silva is unbeaten in his 2 previous meetings with the Reds as a manager. He won 2-0 with Hull in February 2017 before a 3-3 draw as Watford boss last season.
Everton conceded 11 goals in their first 6 league games under Marco Silva but since then only 4 goals have been scored against them in the last 7.
They have lost one of the last 7 in the league home and away (at Old Trafford), winning 5 and drawing the other.
Only Arsenal and Chelsea have prevented the Blues from finding the net in the top-flight this season.
