55 min: Decent Everton attack, with Gueye and Doucoure at the centre. Gueye shoots when Harrison was – again – the better option. That sets off a Diaz scamper, and a scuff at Pickford.
Goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin earned Everton a deserved and crucial Merseyside derby victory
Updated
Wed 24 Apr 2024 17.43 EDT
First published on Wed 24 Apr 2024 13.45 EDT
Live feed
Key events
53 min: Feels like it will be all Liverpool, all this half. Jurg is feeling the urge on the sidelines. Everton look to the counter but then Calvert-Lewin, with Harrison square and in space, decides to shoot from the halfway line. Sean Dyche is raging at that.
Liverpool go down the other end, and Robertson swings and misses. He was offside, to save his blushes.
51 min: Liverpool will have to be patient, just when urgency is beginning to build. Branthwaite steps across to knock behind. Another corner. Idrissa Gueye sweeps that one up.
49 min: Garner with a fine tackle on Jones stops Liverpool getting away with speed. Everton get back in shape and force Liverpool back and back and back to Alisson.
48 min: This time, Van Dijk wins the aerial battle but misses the target.
47 min: Jurgen Klopp, in cap, is deep in contemplation as Everton again start with some ferocity. His team try and pass the ball from the back and Gueye hammers it behind for a corner.
46 min: We are back at Goodison Park, where as predicted, Mykolenko has come off for Ashley Young, the second oldest outfield player in the Premier League.
Scott Blair: “If you’re still allowing Tull references, Liverpool aren’t that far away from snatching their rattling last breath.”
Annabelle gets in touch: “This game has been pretty bleak viewing. I just asked my husband what changes Klopp should make at half-time. “Eleven changes,” he suggested, with only a slight asinine edge. It’s ANZAC Day here. We will remember them.”
Kev McCready gets in touch: “This is embarrassing. Other than Trent, LFC have no creative edge. And when did Mo Salah turn from baby-faced assassin to Kevin Bond?“
Drew: “Slot’s job seems fairly straightforward; find a place in Liverpool that stocks shooting boots since everywhere seems to have been sold out for months.”
Alistair Lawrence is in: “Forgive me chiming in from pedant’s corner, but John Stones is arguably more a product of Barnsley’s talent factory. He’s definitely the reason my Super Reds supporting mate owns home and away England shirts with Stones’ name and number on them, in any case.”
Half-time: Everton 1-0 Liverpool
The best team are winning but the team who have made the most chances are coming for them. Liverpool were rotten for the first 30 minutes, and it took Everton’s goal to wake them up. Half-time comes just as they take control. They have 45 minute to stay in the title race. Everton are 45 minutes from safety.
45+4 min: Everton try to send Doucoure away but he’s offside. They will be happy with the time that takes. Liverpool take up the cudgels, but Everton are defending just as demonically as before.
45+2 min: Everton have been sat back a little on their lead. Are they tired? They probably should be. Konate has to stop Harrison and McNeil forging something.
45 min: Liverpool’s shooting has been awful. Alexander-Arnold moves centrally, Nunez’s flick is decent, and Salah swings and shanks wide. All three attackers now have missed big ones.
Six minutes added on to the half. Mostly VAR time.
44 min: Liverpool’s best chance? No, Diaz had less to aim at than Nunez and Pickford smuggles the ball away. Mykolenko is still out there, limping.
43 min: Oh no! Mykolenko’s taken a horrible fall, and is doubled in pain. He was twisting his ankle as he came down. Ashley Young looks to be coming on. Mykolenko is a brave boy, and he’s sat up, even stood up. His ankle went right over in a collision with Nunez. He’s going to try and run it off! Ukrainians, made of stern stuff, but we all knew that.
41 min: Tarkowski heads away from a Robertson cross. Neither of Liverpool’s full-backs have been able to make too much of an overlap.
39 min: Branthwaite, by the way. The new John Stones but with goals? He’s some player, classy. Everton continues to be a factory of talent, whatever the state of the rest of the club.
37 min: Get down to Goodison Park as the song rings out. Van Dijk is booked on his least favourite ground, for dissent. The cool man is losing his head. Diaz had been fouled but the Dutchman ran over to rail at the ref.
35 min: Branthwaite, such a prospect, steps in, and clears the ball as Szoboszlai tries to make an incursion. The ball comes back out to Nunez, and he blasts it at Pickford. Too easy. Diaz and Mac Allister had laid it on a plate. What a miss that is.
33 min: Is it time to start wondering what Arne Slot has to fix in this Liverpool team? And can Jurgen Klopp fix it? This has been a meek surrender when the title is very much on.
31 min: Virgil van Dijk, whose form has dipped this season, it feels fair to say, is returning to the scene of his ACL injury. He and Konate are being put under pressure by Everton bypassing the Liverpool midfield.
29 min: Oh, there was rebellion in the air if that was ruled out. Thankfully, it wasn’t. For Everton, that is. Liverpool may ask what happened to their defence.
VAR rules the goal is OK!
28 min: VAR are looking at it, as they do. A delay. Another delay. Where’s the offside this time? Calvert-Lewin was initially offside, but was Branthwaite, who hit the shot. It had crossed the line by the time DLC had got there and Branthwaite was onside.
Goal! Everton 1-0 Liverpool (Branthwaite, 27)
That’s the chaos Everton wanted to cause. McNeil’s ball has a few players swinging away, and now there’s Branthwaite’s shot, and the ball is creeping over the line and Calvert-Lewin slides in to make sure!
25 min: Everton full of derby determination, Liverpool way off it at the moment. Nothing happening from them. Calvert-Lewin is fouled by Konate, who has been given a buffeting all night from DLC.
23 min: Gueye bravely picks up the ball when the need to clear a corner was grave. Liverpool beginning to move further and further forward. Salah has been anonymous so far.
22 min: Liverpool corner, and Mykolenko heads clear. Again, Everton dominate the skies. Very impressive from Everton so far at both ends.
20 min: Dyche can be heard, urging on his team as Tarkowski wins another header in the Liverpool box. Nunez meanwhile misreads a ball aimed for him to chase.
19 min: Liverpool have been sluggish, despite dominating possession. Not much happening in the forward line. Calvert-Lewin meanwhile is all over Konate, who is struggling with a player who was a doubt for the game.
17 min: Another set-piece chance for Everton. Tarkowski loops a header back across and Calvert-Lewin makes Alisson make a save. Everton control the skies here. Van Dijk was nowhere near that.
Explore more on these topics