Jarrad Branthwaite says Everton must go into Wednesday’s final Goodison Park derby against Liverpool believing they can win the game.
Liverpool have lost once in the Premier League this season and will visit Goodison Park for the final time knowing a win would take them nine points clear at the top of the table.
Branthwaite scored the opening goal when Everton beat their Merseyside rivals 2-0 in March to effectively end their title hopes in Jurgen Klopp’s final season in charge.
The Toffees will hope for a similarly energised performance after a run of three league wins in a row following David Moyes’ reappointment in January.
“It is the Merseyside derby, it is another game that we are looking to win, that’s it,” Toffees’ defender Branthwaite said.
“If you build it up too much then you can fall under pressure, so I think for us as players, we are going into it with the belief that we can get a result like last season.
“If you go into it bigging it up – all the pressure is on and everyone is watching – then you probably won’t play your best.
“It will be different for the fans as they create the atmosphere for us to go out there and do a job. We need to go out and perform.”
Now, attentions turn to Wednesday.
— Everton (@Everton) February 10, 2025
Liverpool, meanwhile, will be looking to respond from their shock FA Cup fourth-round defeat to Plymouth Argyle last Sunday.
The loss at Home Park ended Slot’s hopes of completing the quadruple in his first season at Anfield, with a busy few weeks on the horizon for the Reds.
Following their clash with Everton on Wednesday, Liverpool play four Premier League games in 10 days, against Wolves, Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Manchester City.
“They trained yesterday, and they will train again tomorrow. Most of the things we do, we do for a reason – we just don’t do it all of a sudden, something,” Slot said.
“I said before that we have to play a lot of games now. The Aston Villa game comes during the week again as well. The last few weeks we have played two times every week.
“In the upcoming weeks, we have to play two games every time. Therefore, it’s not only good for them to, once in a while, have a week when they only play one game.”
Slot also confirmed that defender Joe Gomez and midfielder Curtis Jones would be likely to miss the game after picking up issues against Plymouth at the weekend.
“I am not too sure. I am not too sure if it was the same leg, but I haven’t had time to ask him. It was clear, I think we all know which moment he felt a bit insecure about [it] because he didn’t sprint back fully.
“Then he said, ‘I am not 100 per cent sure, and I am afraid if I do one extra sprint things will go wrong.’
“It’s not torn, I assume, but it didn’t feel good for him. That was a bit of a blow because Curtis Jones was on the bench, but he came to me this morning and said, ‘I don’t think I am fully recovered yet’, as well after the training session of yesterday.
“That all of a sudden led to the fact we were with a few more youngsters on the pitch than was the idea before the game, but still there was enough quality on the pitch to get a better result than this.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Everton – Iliman Ndiaye
Ndiaye has been a player reborn under Moyes, scoring in each of his last three Premier League games to move Everton clear of the relegation zone.
Indeed, the last player to score in four in a row for the Toffees was Richarlison between February and March 2021, a run that included a goal in a 2-0 victory against Liverpool.
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
After being rested for Liverpool’s FA Cup defeat to Plymouth, Slot will be hoping his talisman can fire the Reds to winning ways at Goodison Park.
Salah has been directly involved in 21 goals in Liverpool’s 12 Premier League away games this season (13 goals, eight assists).
It’s the joint-most by a player on the road in a single campaign in the competition’s history, level with Andy Cole in 1993-94 (12 goals, nine assists).
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 19 Premier League games (W14 D5). On both previous occasions that they’ve gone into an away league game against Everton on a 19+ game unbeaten run, they have lost – 0-1 in October 1978 while on a 23-game run and 0-1 in March 1988 when on a 31-game run.
The Reds have also won 99 games against Everton in all competitions (D77 L68) – if they win this match, it will be the fifth time an English league side has beaten another 100 times since the formation of the Football League in 1888 (Arsenal 111 vs Everton, Manchester United 106 vs Aston Villa, Liverpool 103 vs Aston Villa, Arsenal 100 vs Manchester City).
This is just the third time in the Premier League that Liverpool are facing Everton while top of the table at the start of the day – the others were a 5-2 win and a 0-0 draw in 2019-20, with the Reds going on to win the title that season.
This is Slot’s first meeting with Everton as Liverpool manager. Only one Reds boss has won their first ever league Merseyside derby when that match has come away from home, with Kenny Dalglish overseeing a 3-2 victory in September 1985.
But Everton have the recent bragging rights. They won 2-0 in their last Premier League game against Liverpool in April 2024, last winning consecutive league Merseyside derbies in the 1984-85 campaign.
Everton have won their last three Premier League games by an aggregate score of 8-2 – it’s as many wins as they’d had in their previous 21 league games, and as many goals as they’d scored in their previous 14. Moyes last won four consecutive league games in November 2021 with West Ham, while he last did so as Toffees boss in March 2008.
And with the heightened emotion of the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, expect fireworks. Everton vs Liverpool is the fixture to have seen the most red cards (23) and been drawn 0-0 the most (12) in Premier League history. Also, Liverpool have scored more 90th-minute winners against Everton in the competition than any other side against a single opponent (five).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Everton – 18.2%
Draw – 22.2%
Liverpool – 59.6%
