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Huge goal at City Ground: Zian Flemming has put Burnley in front against Forest.
HALF-TIME: Everton 0-1 Liverpool
Everton started well but Liverpool have been the better side since going in front.
45+3 min Dewsbury-Hall barges through a challenge and the ball breaks to McNeil, who’ll be feeling guilty about the error which led to the goal; he waves a foot at his shot, but slices so thinly the ball barely goes wide.
45+1 min Better from Wirtz, who prods into Isak, 15 yards out; his low snap-shot, dragged from around his arse, is straight at Pickford.
45 min Szoboszlai pikes one in behind and for a second, it looks like Wirtz, on the right of the box, is in, but Branthwaite easily extends a go-go Gadget leg to make the challenge. We’ll have two additional minutes.
44 min Gakpo is starting to influence the game, again darting infield and causing confusion. This time, Gravenberch is crowded out, but Liverpool are controlling the play, making the ball do most of the work.
42 min Gakpo fancies this now, receiving in space on the touchline before zooming infield across the face of the box and leaving two defenders watching, before swivelling into a shot which Pickford tips over. The resultant corner comes to nowt.
40 min Liverpool keep the ball. They’re not threatening, but we saw last evening that tight games can be won with one moment of quality followed by a bit of composure.
40 min “Harvey Elliott rotting on the bench at Villa while his replacement struggles to touch the ball,” chortles Johnathan Kaszynski. “Maybe his next move should be to the Bundesliga where apparently he would look like one of the best players in Europe.”
38 min Is Ollie Watkins running into form at the right time? He’s scored again to put Villa 2-1 up on Sunderland.
37 min And he picks out Van Dijk as if on purpose. Everton’s set-piece delivery has been Neil “Dissa” Pointon so far.
35 min I’d really like to see Tyrique George on nice and early but, as I type, Everton win a corner down the left, Garner to swing in.
33 min Everton shouldn’t be downcast – they’ve played pretty well so far and looked relatively threatening. If they maintain the same level, Liverpool don’t seem have the class to dictate … but, as we saw, do have more than enough to conjure telling moments.
31 min “Wirtz is playing in his own timezone,” returns Niall Mullen. “Unfortunately for Liverpool it is last year, in a gently-paced Bundesliga fixture.”
The lack of improvement through the season is very concerning. I know Klopp loves him, and he understands a thing or 69,093 about high-octane Premier League football, but I’m seeing the same now as I was eight months ago: the occasional nice touch or spot, and very little else.
GOAL! Everton 0-1 Liverpool (Salah 30)
Real sickener for Everton! They try and play out, McNeil plays a loose pass backwards, and Gakpo collects, punching a terrific low diag that picks out Salah coming in off the other flank. He shortens stride, takes a touch, opens body, and passes across Pickford into the far corner, gracing his final Merseyside derby in the manner he’s played them all.
NO GOAL! Everton 0-0 Liverpool
O’Brien was fractionally off. Sickener for Everton.
28 min But was O’Brien offside? VAR wants a look and it’s close…
Everton 1-0 Liverpool (Ndiaye 27)
The last scorer at Goodison, the first at the new ground, and now the first in a new-ground derby; Iliman Ndiaye has got it goinn on! From the thrown, the ball goes back to Pickford, who launches it wide left, and O’Brien, still there from the throw, crosses, Ndiaye taking it down before gleefully thwacking past Mamardashvili.
26 min Everton are the better, more threatening team here, and they win a throw deep inside the Everton half, O’Brien hurling in only for Liverpool to make first contact and clear.
24 min Everything that no one (apart from everyone) wants to see. Garner flies in on Szoboszlai, winning the ball with a scissors effect, then Ndiaye charges, he and the Hungarian kicking at each other before various others arrive on the scene. Nothing else happens, but sentiments are building.
22 min Van Dijk is late on Gueye, who sees him coming and ducks out of the road; when there’s no yellow card, Pickford races out of his goal like a child mainlining Sunny and is booked for grassing.
22 min It’s an inswinger aimed at the far top corner, so Pickford tips behind then Branthwaite heads clear the follow-up.
21 min But Gakpo burrows infield off the left, shoots, and though Pickford has it covered, Tarkowski deflects it behind for a corner, Szoboszlai to take down the left.
20 min Wirtz and Gakpo have barely had a kick between them. Somehow, Liverpool spent in excess of £300m on forwards and still need a right-winger and attacking midfielder.
19 min “In defence of Slot withholding Rio Nigumoha today,” says Justin Kavanagh, “you don’t unleash your unruly children when visiting the neighbours’ new house for the first time.”
Depends how much you like or do’nt like them.
18 min Pickford does pretty well to flap away, but I’m surprised he wasn’t put under more pressure, with more men around him.
16 min Long ball from Gueye and Beto runs off Konate, Ropbertson playing him on, and he’s free on the left side of the box! So he opens his body looking to pass into the far corner but gets it all wrong, delivering more of a square pass, to no one, than a shot. That is a a major oversight, and Liverpool immediately go down the other end and win a corner.
16 min On which point, the keeper’s had some grief recently and it’s fair to say his passing out is a long, long way off Alisson’s – however hard he works, the gap feels insurmountable – but he was someone you could see was good at Valencia.
15 min Garner has a crack … and Mamardashvili shovels away, then up goes the flag.
13 min Garner crosses from the left and Robertson heads up and sort of clear, Everton picking up the loose ball and keeping their opponents boxed. They’re sustaining attacks quite well so far, just lacking invention in the final third, and they win a free-kick when Beto goes down; it’s well left of centre, not too far outside the box.
12 min Long ball from Tarkowski and Dewsbury-Hall runs off Szoboszlai, going down under a tackle from Jones; no penalty says the ref, and that seems the right call at first look.
11 min Chris Rigg has equalised for Sunderland at Villa – that’s his first Premier League goal and one I doubt he thought would take till April to come.
10 min But it wins them a corner and there’s a crowd scene inside the box, but Beto heads away Szoboszlai’s kick at the near post and, when Gueye counters, Gravenberch brings him down. Hilariously, Tarkowski – his greying sweep-back swaying in the wind like it’s in a lyrical ballad – takes moral issue with this outrage, harranging the ref.
