Everton vs Liverpool commentary: Full details for rearranged derby at Goodison

Everton and Liverpool will both be out for more than just bragging rights in the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park tonight.

The first meeting of the season between the two sides has been long in the making after their original December fixture was postponed.

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Since then, the Toffees have replaced Sean Dyche with David Moyes and reaped the rewards with three wins from his first five games.

Everton and Liverpool are currently separated by 30 points in the table and yet both sides will have reasons to be cautious.

The 245th Merseyside derby was already hugely significant to Everton, with it being the last time Goodison stages the fixture.

Moyes’ men now have the added bonus of easing their relegation fears while simultaneously putting a dent in Liverpool’s title hopes.

Arne Slot‘s men saw their hopes of winning a historic quadruple shattered during a shock defeat to Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup.

Liverpool, who are unbeaten in their last 19 Premier League games, rested most of their big-hitters ahead of the derby, with a victory here seeing the club go nine points clear of Arsenal.

However, those returning Reds superstars will be acutely aware of their 2-0 loss in this fixture last season that all but ruled them out of the race to win the title in Jurgen Klopp‘s final campaign.

Everton vs Liverpool: How to watch

This Premier League game is set to take place on Wednesday, February 12.

Kick-off at Goodison Park is scheduled for 7:30pm.

It will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1, which had the rights to screen the initial fixture, with coverage commencing an hour before kick-off.

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• Mohamed Salah has been directly involved in 21 goals in Liverpool’s 12 Premier League away games this season (13 goals, 8 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, 9 assists).
• Everton 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.
• Liverpool’s 2-0 loss in this exact fixture last season ended a 12-game unbeaten away run in the Premier League against Everton (W3 D9). They’ve not lost consecutive visits to Goodison Park since a run of three between 1992 and 1994.

Everton vs Liverpool: talkSPORT coverage

talkSPORT will have live and exclusive coverage from Merseyside, with Adrian Durham serving as your presenter.

Commentary will come from Sam Matterface and former England captain Stuart Pearce.

talkSPORT.com will also have updates throughout via our dedicated live Premier League blog.

To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

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• 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 (5).
• Liverpool have 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.

Everton vs Liverpool: Team news

The hosts will hope to welcome back Vitalii Mykolenko, who missed Saturday’s 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Bournemouth with a calf strain.

Ashley Young, who was sent off against Liverpool last year, could drop out, with Moyes already confirmed to be without several players.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Armando Broja and Youssef Chermiti all remain sidelined, with Dwight McNeil a long-term absentee.

Meanwhile, the visitors could make all 11 changes from the side that lost to Plymouth by reverting to the XI that beat Tottenham 4-0 in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday.

Trent Alexander-Arnold could make his return to the matchday squad having missed the past two matches with a hamstring injury.

Either way, the Liverpool vice-captain won’t be fit to start against his local rivals, with Joe Gomez being Slot’s only injury concern.

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• 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’ve lost – 0-1 in October 1978 while on a 23-game run and 0-1 in March 1988 when on a 31-game run.
• 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. Manager David Moyes last won four consecutive league games in November 2021 with West Ham, while he last did so as Toffees boss in March 2008.
• Everton have led 3-0 at half-time in both of their last two Premier League home games (vs Tottenham and Leicester) – no side in Premier League history has ever led by 3+ goals in three consecutive home games.

Everton vs Liverpool: What has been said?

Slot has addressed the potential pitfalls his side can expect from this being the final Goodison Park meeting between the two teams.

He said: “I think it’s an extra reason why the atmosphere will probably be even better than all the occasions before.

“I haven’t been to one but people tell me at Goodison Park, as at Anfield, it’s always a fantastic atmosphere.

“Home supporters are there to support their team and the away fans are mostly loud as well. It’s probably going to be a fantastic atmosphere and that’s never easy to play against because every single time they cross the halfway line, or they get a corner kick, or whatever happens, the fans will cheer for that.

“Then you have to be mentally really strong as an away team to resist all that, the complete atmosphere, and you still have to be focused on what you have to do; defending the corner kick, defending the set piece. When you have the ball, be as calm as you can in this fantastic atmosphere. But it’s not the first time for these players that they are playing in atmospheres like this.

“I hope they can focus on what they have to do, but it’s not only tactical, you also have to stand up to those emotions because I’ve noticed also in the Plymouth game that the intensity of the tackles and how aggressive they were.

“That was a quality of their players, but it was definitely also because of the emotions in the stadium, so we have to be up for that.

“I’ve seen the game of last season, for example, I think we were quite ready because after 10 minutes the referee blew his whistle 11 times and 10 times in favour of Everton!

“The Liverpool players were ready to compete, but every time they touched them it was a free kick.

“I assume our players are ready for another battle tomorrow for the simple reason that they have been ready for the whole season and many of them are experienced for this tie.”