Everton 2-2 Liverpool
Everton will stay top of the Premier League table for at least another week after a late Dominic Calvert-Lewin header earned the Toffees a vital point in a brilliant Merseyside derby.
The Reds were twice ahead through Sadio Mane and Mo Salah, who scored his 100th Liverpool goal, but Everton were not to be beaten as Michael Keane and then Calvert-Lewin drew the hosts level. The game marks five years since Jurgen Klopp took charge of his first Liverpool fixture and he’s worked wonders since. But Everton is a club on the up and they matched the champions in an enthralling 90 minutes.
The latest Premier League 2020 betting odds here at SBOTOP have Liverpool and Manchester City neck and neck in the chase for the title and this could prove to be a vital point for the Reds, but they were agonisingly close to getting all three.
Highlights of the game
This was Everton’s best chance to turn the tables on Liverpool in a long time, but things couldn’t have started much worse for the Toffees as the champions went ahead on just two minutes following a lovely team move. Wing back Trent Alexander-Arnold beat Andre Gomes on the right, Mo Salah swept the ball out to Andy Robertson and when he fired his cross in Mane hammered it home first time.
Things could easily have got out of hand for Everton, on eight minutes, when their keeper, Jordan Pickford rushed off his line to hit the advancing Virgil van Dijk with a dreadful challenge. The Liverpool centre back was flagged offside, but if he had been onside he would have won a penalty and Pickford would have been off. Instead it was the injured Van Dijk who limped off the pitch to be replaced by Joe Gomez.
Everton were lucky to be in the game and before 20 minutes were up they were level.
Head coach Carlo Ancelotti has invested wisely over the summer period and it was star signing James Rodriguez who provided the ammunition for Everton’s equaliser. He swung over a corner and with a big hole in Liverpool’s defence left by Van Dijk, Keane rose high to head past Adrian.
The Reds twice came close to restoring their lead before the break; first Robertson teed up Mane again but this time the Senegalese striker slid the ball wide when he should have scored, and then Jordan Henderson was inches away from converting a cross by Roberto Firmino.
There was an excellent chance at both ends in the early exchanges of the second half. First it was Henderson again hitting a half volley from the edge of the box which sailed narrowly over, and then Dominic Calvert-Lewin almost met an inviting cross from Lucas Digne but he fluffed his chance. Then Rodriguez almost created another goal when he took a ball from Keane and curled a beautiful cross in which was met by Richarlison, but the Brazilian’s effort smacked against the post and away to safety.
Rodriguez forced a save from Adrian with a long range effort but then Liverpool struck again, and it was that man Salah with his 100th goal. Fabinho and Henderson worked well down the flank and when Yerry Mina half cleared a ball the Egyptian fired it first time, low into Pickford’s corner.
Everton weren’t beaten though and there were ten minutes remaining when Calvert- Lewin leapt high to meet a Digne cross and power his header home for the point.
Though Pickford had been lucky to stay on the pitch with his early challenge on Van Dijk, the Toffees did end up with ten men when Richarlson saw red for a studs-up foul on Thiago; and Henderson thought he’d won it for Liverpool at the death, but Mane was marginally offside in the build up.
Key statistics
Liverpool are now unbeaten in 30 derbies having scored first, in a run dating back to 1992.
Clocked at 2 minutes and 15 seconds, Mane’s goal was the fastest by a Liverpool player in Merseyside derbies in the Premier League.
And Mo Salah scored his 100th Liverpool goal in all competitions in 159 games, the third fastest to reach this tally in the club’s history, after Roger Hunt and Jack Parkinson.
What’s next?
The Merseyside clubs and their fans can now sit back and watch the rest of the Premier League 2020 results roll in over the weekend and then Liverpool open their Champions League campaign with a trip to Ajax in midweek, before entertaining Sheffield United next weekend.
The Toffees, still unbeaten and still top of the league head to Southampton next Sunday.
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