Liverpool football club will resume their campaign to win their first Premier League title in 30 years this evening (19:00 BST) as they face their local rivals Everton football club for the second leg of the Merseyside derby at Everton’s Goodison Park.
The first leg took place in December three months before the coronavirus pandemic halted football in the Premier League. Then, Everton visited Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium and the league table-toppers spanked their visitors 5 goals to two in the thrilling encounter.
Three months after, Jurgen Klopp and his boys will visit Everton that has Coach Carlo Ancelotti who has managed 11 Premier League games for Everton so far. He lost just three from the 11 games, winning 5 and drawing 3.
Currently, Everton is on the 12th spot with 37 points in 29 games. Hence, the match is a must-win for them if they still aim to finish among the top 6 in the league which will guarantee them Europa League football.
But unfortunately for Carlo Ancelotti’s team, the club will miss the services of 5 of their first-team players due to injuries – Yerry Mina, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Fabian Delph, Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun.
Everton Vs Liverpool: Everton’s Team News and Possible Lineup
As stated earlier, Everton will be without 5 of their top players when they host Liverpool this evening. Everton’s Gbamin has been injured before the coronavirus pandemic halted football. Unfortunately for him, he sustained another injury around his Achilles that left him unfit to play in today’s game and until the next 5 months.
While Mina, Cenk and Delph returned to training after the coronavirus break as fit as possible but ended up receiving knocks during training that has made them unfit for the match.
In the case of Walcott, he just had a surgery due to an abdominal issue he has been battling with. It will take him about four weeks to fully recover from the aftermath of the surgery.
The possible lineup for Everton if Ancelotti decides to use 4-4-2 formation: Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Holgate, Digne; Bernard, Gomes, Davies, Sigurdsson; Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison
Everton Vs Liverpool: Liverpool’s Team News and Possible Lineup
Though the manager of Liverpool FC Jurgen Klopp said that none of his players is unavailable for the match yet, their top scorer Mohamed Salah suffered a slight knock during training some days ago. According to reports, he was not spotted in the recent training sessions of the team but some reports are speculating that he has started light training sessions before now. However, he is most likely to start from the bench.
Also, there are reports that Andrew Robertson also suffered some knocks during training but the coach of the club is yet to officially rule him out of the match.
The good news for Jurgen Klopp is that his first-choice goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, has fully recovered from his hip injury and is expected to be in goal for Liverpool tonight.
Possible Lineup for Liverpool if Jurgen Klopp decides to use 4-3-3 formation: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum; Mane, Firmino, Origi (or Salah).
Some Stats to look out for:
In the last 18 Premier League matches involving Liverpool and Everton, the latter has lost 8 games and drew 10.
The last time Everton won against Liverpool in Goodison Park was in October 2010. The match ended 2-0 in favour of Everton. Since then, Liverpool has drawn 6 games played in the stadium and won 1-0 in December 2016.
Liverpool is unbeaten in their last 21 games against Everton in all competitions. They have beaten Everton twice this season – one in the Premier League and the other in the FA Cup.
