Updated Everton take on Liverpool at Anfield after an abnormally long international break, following due observance of the FA Cup 6th Round weekend.
For the Blues, a number of formerly injured players are causing excitement and building hopes as they were spotted going through their paces in training videos days in advance of this looming encounter.
Squad resources appear to have been bolstered for David Moyes, who should be able to call on both Illiman Ndiaye and Dwight McNeil after they took part in full training at Finch Farm on Friday and Saturday.
But uncertainty over the fitness of Vitalii Mykolenko remains after he was deemed to have sustained a ‘serious’ thigh injury while on international duty with Ukraine last week. Since that worrying diagnosis, any meaningful updates have been absent – as was he from the training videos.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is still not back in training as he continues to recover from a serious hamstring issue, while Orel Mangala won’t play again this season after rupturing his ACL.
Everton will be hoping to extend their incredible unbeaten run to 10 matches in the Premier League since David Moyes lost his first game to Aston Villa after he returned as manager in January. But the Reds would not like it to become three defeats in a row after their successive losses to Paris St Germain in the Champions League, and Newcastle Utd in the League Cup final.
But Moyes’s record away to Liverpool in his time as Everton manager is not good, having never won a game there in 19 attempts — the longest any manager has gone in the Premier League without a victory at Anfield. His record as West Ham manager was even worse: he was in charge of seven games at Liverpool, losing them all.
And some of the comments and responses drawn out of him by probing reporters at his pre-match press-conference saw an all-too-familiar “knife to a gunfight” assessment of Everton’s chances going into this game:
“We might be further away from Liverpool than we have ever been at the moment. When we left here, we were much closer to Liverpool, we were competitive, competing around the same areas in the league. At the moment, it is probably the biggest gulf between the two clubs.”
Reminded of his dreadful record, Moyes said: “Yeh. I don’t want it. I want to win. I want to make sure I get rid of it. Every time we go there, it presents another chance to do so.
“I would be lying if I said I look forward to going there all the time because it is such a hard place to get results. It is nothing to do with the surroundings or the pitch, they have always produced good teams.”
And asked what special plans they might have any to stop the Premier League’s form player, Mohamed Salah?
“We could try and build a wall or something to stop him but he is such a talented player but we done quite a good job on him in the first game,” he said.
“We will have to hope we can do something similar in this game. He is having an unbelievable season for Liverpool but we are talking about one of the top Premier League players of this generation.”
Kick-off: 8 pm BST, Wednesday 2 April 2025
Referee: Sam Barrott.
Assistants: Lee Betts, Timothy Wood.
Fourth official: Darren Bond.
Video Assistant Referee: Paul Tierney.
Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn