Liverpool can be expected to continue their relentless accumulation of Premier League soccer points when they host Everton in the Merseyside Derby at Anfield (3.15pm Wednesday).
Liverpool recorded their 13th victory of the campaign to extend their unbeaten start to the season to 14 matches with a 2-1 win at home to Brighton on Saturday. A dominant opening 25 minutes in which Virgil van Dijk twice headed home from set pieces was enough.
With the two-time reigning Premier League champions Manchester City again dropping a couple of points over the weekend, Jurgen Klopp’s side now have a very healthy 11-point margin over the one side they will feel are realistically good enough to overhaul them in a straight fight. Hopes of a first league title in 30 years increase by the week.
Even at this early stage, 11 points is quite the margin to work with. It hasn’t proved an unassailable one in the Premier League era: Manchester United reversed the 12-point advantage Newcastle held in January of the 1995/96 season. For a team as good as this Liverpool side, it is one that clearly puts them in pole position for the Premier League title.
Everton are fairly unlikely to end Liverpool’s unbeaten record on Wednesday. While there have been a decent number of draws in recent Merseyside Derbies, most of those have occurred at Everton’s home of Goodison Park. It is necessary to go back to 2010, 18 encounters ago, to find the last time Everton defeated Liverpool in the league, and much further than that, to 1999, to find Everton’s last away win at Anfield.
Liverpool left it very late to claim all three points in last season’s equivalent fixture. Divock Origi scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory six minutes into stoppage time. It was one of a series of important goals he notched over the course of that campaign, including in both the semi-final and final of the Champions League.
That was Klopp’s third win in the four Premier League Merseyside Derbies he has overseen since becoming Liverpool head coach in October of 2015. In that time, Liverpool have been on a clear upward trajectory, executing a carefully crafted plan to become an elite club in the European landscape again. Everton have spent a good amount of money in recent years without anywhere near the same focus or return on investment.
The fact that Klopp has faced four different Everton coaches across those four Anfield encounters says much for how often Everton’s course has veered in that time. Another change could soon be in the offing. Marco Silva’s position is coming under increasing scrutiny following a run of just 14 points from Everton’s first 14 matches that has them down in 17th, just one place and two points above the relegation zone.
Everton led into the final quarter of their match away at Leicester on Sunday thanks to Richarlison’s early strike, only to fall to a 1-2 defeat. Their hosts equalized with just over 20 minutes to play and then scored an injury time winner to consign Everton to a second consecutive defeat and their eighth of a campaign that has so far very much failed to live up to expectations.
The underlying statistics suggest Everton have been a touch unfortunate in terms of conversion rates at both ends of the pitch, but neither are those numbers good enough to necessarily outweigh the reality of the results that now bare down upon Silva. Wednesday’s match is the first of a run of four fixtures against teams who finished in last season’s top six. On current form, it would be surprising if Silva was still in a job by the end of it.
Our Preview’s Liverpool vs Everton Predictions & Betting Picks Verdict
As derbies often are, this midweek encounter is likely to be a slightly tighter contest than the form and standing of the two teams might suggest. Liverpool are still the clear favorites with the high-ranking USA betting sites to emerge triumphant. The Liverpool vs Everton predictions for this preview are:
- Bet on Liverpool -1.5 goals on the spread @ -110 with Bovada sportsbook.
Nick is our international soccer and Formula 1 expert. As well as contributing to USA Betting, he writes for many top sports websites and national newspapers. The biggest brands he currently or has written for include: The Independent, ESPN, The Bleacher Report, JustBookies, StatsBomb & more.