Phil Thompson knows what to expect from Everton ahead of derby clash

Phil Thompson has stressed Liverpool must be ‘ready’ for next week’s Merseyside derby encounter at Goodison Park.

The Reds are currently six points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and have the chance to extend their lead to nine points if they defeat Everton in what is their game in hand after the fixture was postponed back in December due to Storm Darragh.

Since then, the Toffees have replaced Sean Dyche with former boss David Moyes and the Scotsman has won three of his first four games in charge.

Liverpool have to play two games in two other competitions before travelling across Stanley Park for the encounter, but Thompson has warned his former side ‘are coming to get them’.

“Listen, they are scoring loads of goals, they’re doing well, Moysey’s doing great,” the 71-year-old told talkSPORT (as quoted by Rousing The Kop). “So much respect for Moyesy and it will be a tough game.”

“They beat us last year, we’ve got to go there ready. They’ll do the same thing, sit back and hit on the counter.

“They had a great win at the weekend, but we are coming to get them.”

Form goes out of the window for derby games and we all know anything can happen.

We simply weren’t good enough at Goodison Park last term and suffered a 2-0 loss. There simply cannot be a repeat of that as we aim to continue our fine form and take a huge step towards our 20th league title.

Everton will make it difficult, will be compact and will look to strike us on the counter as Thompson has mentioned, so Arne Slot’s men need to be ruthless in both boxes to secure all three points.

Firstly however, we welcome Spurs to Anfield on Thursday for the second leg of our League Cup sem-final clash before travelling to Plymouth in round four of the FA Cup.

It’s an exciting time to be a Kopite – let’s hope we can keep it going!