Can Arne Slot’s side bounce back from an FA Cup upset? We look ahead to Wednesday night’s Merseyside derby with our Everton vs Liverpool prediction and preview.
Everton vs Liverpool Stats: The Key Insights
- Liverpool triumphed in a convincing 59.6% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.
- This fixture has seen the most red cards (23) and most 0-0 draws (12) in Premier League history.
- Mohamed Salah has been involved in 21 Premier League away goals this season and needs just one more to break the Premier League record for the most in a single campaign.
Liverpool will aim to go nine points clear at the Premier League summit when they visit resurgent rivals Everton for Wednesday night’s rescheduled Merseyside derby.
The original game on 7 December was called off due to Storm Darragh, though the postponement poses Liverpool a different challenge with Everton flying high under returning manager David Moyes.
Everton have won their last three Premier League games against Tottenham, Brighton and Leicester City by an aggregate score of 8-2. That is as many wins as they’d managed in their previous 21 league games, and as many goals as they’d scored in their previous 14.
Moyes has reinvigorated the Toffees since replacing Sean Dyche and will now aim for four consecutive league wins for the first time since November 2021 with West Ham. The last time the Scot managed as many in a row with Everton was in March 2008. It is worth mentioning here, however, that Everton lost to Bournemouth in the FA Cup at the weekend.
Arne Slot will have to be wary of Everton’s rapid starts in his first Merseyside derby, considering Moyes’ side have led 3-0 at half-time in their last two Premier League home games against Tottenham and Leicester. No side in Premier League history has ever led by 3+ goals in three consecutive home outings, however.
The Dutch boss has settled remarkably quickly into life on the red half of Merseyside, though only one Liverpool manager has ever won their first derby in the league when that maiden clash has come away from home.
Kenny Dalglish oversaw a 3-2 victory way back in September 1985 but Slot has already proved his side is capable of bucking trends and rewriting their own history. They head to Goodison Park unbeaten in 19 games and six points clear of second-placed Arsenal before Wednesday’s game in hand.
Concerningly for Slot, Liverpool have lost both games at Goodison when visiting in the league on a 19-plus unbeaten run. The Reds suffered a 1-0 defeat in October 1978 to end a 23-game streak and by the same score in March 1988 when going 31 without defeat before.
In a more positive omen for Slot’s visitors, this is just the third time that Liverpool will face Everton when top of the Premier League table. They won 5-2 and drew 0-0 in the 2019-20 season, and went on to secure the top-flight crown under Jürgen Klopp that term.
Mohamed Salah was integral in Klopp’s title-winning team and remains a pivotal figure under Slot despite an ongoing contract stand-off. He has been involved in 21 goals away from home in the league this season, and needs to add just one more to his 13 goals and eight assists to break Andy Cole’s Premier League record (in the 1993-94 campaign) for the most goal involvements on the road in a single campaign.
Moyes has his own in-form player to call upon, too. Iliman Ndiaye has scored in each of his last three Premier League games, helping his side climb to 16th and nine points clear of the relegation zone.
The last Everton player to score in four in a row was Richarlison – now of Tottenham – in February/March 2021. That run included scoring in a 2-0 victory against Liverpool, and Moyes will be desperate for Ndiaye to repeat the trick on Wednesday night. Speaking of Tottenham, Everton will go above Spurs with a win here.
Ndiaye will have to step up once more in the absence of attacking colleagues Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Dwight McNeil and Armando Broja. Orel Mangala and Séamus Coleman are also out, while;e Vitalli Mykolenko is a doubt with a calf strain and will face a late fitness test.
Trent Alexander-Arnold sat out of Liverpool’s shock fourth-round defeat to Plymouth Argyle on Sunday but could return at Goodison. Joe Gomez will not feature, however, after limping off in that FA Cup upset at Home Park.
Everton vs Liverpool Head-to-Head
Jarrad Branthwaite and Calvert-Lewin scored as Everton won 2-0 in their most recent meeting with Liverpool last April, though the Toffees have not won consecutive league Merseyside derbies since the 1984-85 campaign.
That defeat ended Liverpool’s 12-game unbeaten away run in the Premier League against Everton (W3 D9), but the Reds have not lost on consecutive visits to Goodison since a run of three between 1992 and 1994.
It remains to be seen what type of encounter awaits at Goodison. This fixture has seen the most red cards (23) but also the most 0-0 draws (12) in Premier League history. However, there could be late drama in store, given Liverpool have scored five 90th-minute winners against Everton in this competition, their most against a single opponent.
Liverpool will also be aiming for their 100th win against Everton in all competitions (D77 L68). It would be just the fifth time one side has beaten another 100 times since the formation of the Football League in 1888 (Arsenal 111 vs Everton, Manchester United 106 vs Aston Villa, Liverpool 103 vs Aston Villa, Arsenal 100 vs Manchester City).
Everton vs Liverpool Prediction
The Opta supercomputer backs Liverpool to get back on track after their FA Cup shock defeat, with the visitors winning 59.6% of 10,000 pre-match simulations.
Moyes’ side made it four wins in a row in the competition in just 18.2% of data-led sims, while the draw was ranked at 22.2%.
Everton vs Liverpool Predicted Lineups
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Wednesday night, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
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