Former Liverpool star Mark Lawrenson has tipped Liverpool to breeze past Everton tonight in the Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park.
The Reds are in flying form while the Blues are floundering. After a 4-0 win over Southampton, Liverpool have edged their way up the Premier League table and closed the gap between them and Chelsea to just two points.
Diogo Jota scored twice in what was a five-star attacking performance from Jurgen Klopp’s side. The same can be expected this evening, even if derbies present slightly different challenges than regular league encounters.
Everton are really battling and, given how effective Liverpool are in defence, they will seriously struggle to contain the away side in my opinion. But it’s a derby so anything can happen.
Virgil van Dijk will be particularly revved up after Jordan Pickford was the player who tore his ACL in October last season, so a big win would be the perfect revenge.
Lawrenson, writing in his column for the BBC, says that Liverpool should be able to take all their chances and compound Everton’s Blues.
He wrote: “This was the game where Virgil van Dijk got injured last season so if it is possible to have any more spice than a normal derby, Wednesday night will be it.
“However you look at the game, Liverpool have to be favourites. Everton have not won since the end of September and when I watched them against Brentford on Sunday, they never ever really looked like scoring.
“The Bees could even have won by another goal or two. Quite often going into these derby games, I think it doesn’t matter whether teams are at the top or bottom of the table because they feel so different.
“But, this time, the sheer quality of Liverpool means I cannot see them creating chances without taking some of them.”
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