All Square In 233rd Merseyside Derby: Everton Share Spoils With Liverpool
3rd March 2019
Marco Silva made two changes to his side that battled to a 0-0 draw against cross town rivals to leave their EPL title destiny out of their hands
- Bernard and Kurt Zouma returned to Eveton's starting XI for the Merseyside derby, as manager Marco Silva made two changes from the team which won 3-0 at Cardiff City in midweek
- The first-half’s standout moment was provided by Everton goalkeeper Pickford. Twenty-eight minutes had elapsed when Mohamed Salah streaked onto an incisive Fabinho pass, struck from the middle of the pitch
- Another cross from open play was arced directly to Richarlison, who could not generate sufficient power to stretch Liverpool ‘keeper Alisson. It was a top-class display from a high-calibre footballer
LIVERPOOL, England- A highly-charged 233rd Merseyside derby finished scoreless but not for the want of trying on either side on Sunday night. Michael Keane and Lucas Digne defended wonderfully at different junctures to prevent Everton FC from falling behind to visiting Liverpool FC.
At the other end, Bernard and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both threatened to break the deadlock in the hosts favour.
The first-half’s standout moment was provided by Everton goalkeeper Pickford. Twenty-eight minutes had elapsed when Mohamed Salah streaked onto an incisive Fabinho pass, struck from the middle of the pitch.
The forward progressed into the penalty area, opening up his body before shooting across Pickford. The England ‘keeper flashed out an exceptionally strong right-hand to deny the Egyptian.
Jordan Henderson directed the loose ball on target but was repelled by Seamus Coleman flinging his body in the way of the midfielder’s strike.
Keane was similarly exceptional 10 minutes into the second half. Salah was the Liverpool player causing trouble again, right boot on the draw and poised to shoot after Trent Alexander-Arnold had smuggled through a pass, when Keane flew in with a perfectly-timed intervention.
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Coleman’s fellow full-back Digne pulled off his own exceptional piece of defending four minutes before the break, intercepting at the back post with Alexander-Arnold poised to meet Andrew Robertson’s deep left-wing cross.
Salah had been a menace early on, drawing a fairly routine save from Pickford with a left-foot curler not long after Everton captain Coleman had covered brilliantly to stop the Egyptian having a free run at goal.
Everton created the game's first opening on seven minutes.
Idrissa Gana Gueye and Digne combined to usher Bernard to the byline. The Brazilian dug out a teasing cross but neither Dominic Calvert-Lewin nor Theo Walcott were able to gather in the ball.
Walcott was booked for illegally impeding Liverpool’s subsequent counter.
Lively Lucas
But the forward was back on the offensive around the quarter hour.
Everton FC captain, Seamus Coleman (left) fends off Liverpool FC forward, Divock Origi during the 233rd Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park on Sunday, March 3, 2018. PHOTO/Everton
Calvert-Lewin rolled Joel Matip and squeezed a pass forward for Gylfi Sigurdsson. He cut the ball across the face of goal but with Walcott fast descending on the scene Virgil van Dijk slashed it behind.
Robertson was the Liverpool defender happy to concede a corner midway through the opening half when Bernard’s crackling delivery momentarily unsettled the away team.
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Pickford, meanwhile, was sharply off his line to grab centre-half Keane’s back header with Sadio Mane lurking.
Alisson Becker flew to his right to hold Calvert-Lewin’s header from a Digne corner seven minutes after the break. And Pickford’s handling was flawless sixty seconds later when he was confronted with a nasty, dipping, Alexander-Arnold free-kick.
Digne whipped the ball off the toes of Fabinho with the Brazilian poised to shoot from six yards on 68 minutes.
Richarlison, on for Walcott, advanced to have a blast at goal blocked by James Milner – a minute or so after substitute Miler had seen an effort meet the same fate when it crashed into Morgan Schneiderlin.
Calvert-Lewin’s last act before being replaced by Cenk Tosun was to slip a ball around the corner for Richarlison. He had Sigurdsson and Bernard screaming for the ball in the middle and opted to pick out the latter. Bernard, though, lost his footing as he advanced and could not make contact six yards out.
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Dusted down
The game was becoming stretched late in the piece. Van Dijk got a toe in to halt Bernard's dribble across the fringe of the box, while Matip was wide with a header from Alexander-Arnold's corner.
Digne then dusted himself down after being dumped to the turf by Alexander-Arnold to whip the free-kick through a forest of bodies in the penalty area.
Everton can reflect on a satisfying afternoon's work and look forward to nine Premier Leauge matches when they will aim to climb from 10th spot and close a six-point deficit to Wolverhampton Wanderers in seventh.
Lucas Digne was a teammate of Salah’s for a season at Roma.
Boasting inside knowledge of a player and being able to stop him, however, are two different matters altogether.
Digne was excellent, smothering Salah for the most part but retaining his attacking ambition.
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The Frenchman is a very astute reader of the play and can detect danger a mile off. His best piece of defending actually arrived with Salah completely out of the picture.
Digne was on alert when he saw Andrew Robertson sizing up a cross from deep on the opposite flank. Out the corner of his eye, he would have spied Trent Alexander-Arnold advancing onto his left shoulder.
Robertson’s cross was good, meaning Digne had to be, too. He stationed himself in front of his opponent and guided the ball out of harm’s way.
He did brilliantly to recover and smack a bouncing ball out of Fabinho’s orbit in the second-half, too.
Digne sent in a couple of terrific corners, too, one landed on the head of Dominic Calvert-Lewin for an effort saved by Alisson Becker.
Another cross from open play was arced directly to Richarlison, who could not generate sufficient power to stretch Liverpool ‘keeper Alisson. It was a top-class display from a high-calibre footballer.
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-Read the entire match report from Goodison Park on www.evertonfc.com
Everton FC manager, Marco Silva (left) has a word with his striker Richarlison as Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp (right) looks on during the 233rd Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park on Sunday, March 3, 2018. PHOTO/Everton