No matter what circumstance either team goes into the Merseyside Derby under, the match is never not a big deal. With both Liverpool and Everton’s early season form seeing them struggle to gain a foothold in the league table, this weekends meeting isn’t about to buck the trend; this one is just as important as ever.
A mere point separates the two sides in the standings as well as in-goal difference, but statistics and form are always more of an after-thought in this match — anything can and will happen. That, of course, includes Everton winning at Anfield in the league for the first time in 15-years. The Toffees have drawn eight and lost eight of their previous trips across Stanley Park, but after Crystal Palace downed them 3-2 to repeat the same score-line as their last encounter in April, Everton boss Roberto Martinez is hoping that a weird coincidence will work in their favour this time.
“The game is going to be really exciting. I think it’s going to be one of the best derbies – the last two were very good from a technical point of view and very good football games, but I think this one is building up towards being a very good game” said the Spaniard in his pre-match press conference. “The last time we beat Liverpool at Anfield was September 27 so I hope the spookiness carries on at the weekend.”
On the back of a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Swansea City in the League Cup on Tuesday, Everton can use all the help they can get — supernatural or otherwise. While hoodoo and other assorted paranormal phenomenon may give some section of the Toffee’s support a confidence boost heading into the trip to Anfield, others will look to the return of Costa Rican midfielder Bryan Oviedo as a more tangible positive than anything that goes bump in the night.
“It was very emotional to be in the starting line-up again. I had been waiting for eight months and tonight I had the chance. I tried to give everything but the result wasn’t good enough” he told the clubs official website after returning for the first time since a double leg fracture suffered in last season’s FA Cup sidelined him for nine months. “Now we need to go home and look at what happened in the game and be ready for the next game because it is the most important one. The most important game now is the derby next Saturday.”
While it’s unlikely that Oviedo will play too big of a part as he fights to return to full fitness, defender Sylvain Distin made his return to the starting eleven during last weekend’s loss to the Eagles and the Frenchman is expected to keep his spot in the squad for this weekends encounter. Much like Liverpool, the Toffees have struggled defensively this season and sit at a -2 goal difference going into Saturday’s match — bad news all around considering the last time they visited Anfield, they conceded 4-goals.
“We’ve been solid for five or six years. Over the past three or four seasons we’ve had the third best defence in the league. It depends how you want to look at it. You can start panicking and thinking, “What’s going on?”. But I don’t think that’s the right thing to do” said the Frenchman after the 3-2 loss to Crystal Palace last weekend. “You have to remember where you come from, what you are good at and what you’ve been doing well for so many years. We’ve conceded a lot of goals – it’s the Premier League and you get punished. Maybe we’ve missed a bit of luck, a bit of communication. I don’t think it’s one thing, maybe a few little things together. We just need to eradicate the mistakes and sort out that miscommunication. It will come.”
That sounds like a familiar story, doesn’t it?
–Steven
