Liverpool 2 – 0 Everton
Ashley Young became the latest Everton player to be sent off in a Merseyside derby and the Toffees’ stubborn resistance was eventually undermined when Michael Keane’s handball allowed the reds to break the deadlock from the spot with 15 minutes to go.
Young was already on a booking for a cynical check on Luis Diaz in the 18th minute and he received his marching orders from Craig Pawson seven minutes before half-time for fouling the same player near the byline.
It ruined yet another Merseyside derby and reduced the Blues to a gameplan of simply trying to hang on before they pivoted towards attack late on after falling behind and were caught two-against-one on the counter-attack deep in stoppage time and Mohamed Salah completed his brace.
Despite Idrissa Gueye being fit again after withdrawing from the win over Bournemouth with a foot injury, Amadou Onana and James Garner kept their places in midfield, with Young again preferred to Nathan Patterson at right-back and Jack Harrison lining up ahead of him in right midfield.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin had the first chance of the game when Dwight McNeil swung in a cross before a minute had elapsed but the striker could only head straight at Alisson Becker.
That would the visitors’ best of the game because, as expected, Liverpool had the lion’s share of possession and chances even before Everton were reduced 10 men.
The reds’ best chance appeared to be on the break as Dyche’s side left themselves open from attacking set-pieces, with Young getting back well to deflect Diaz’s shot behind when the Colombian looked odds-on to score in the 12th minute.
Five minutes later, Liverpool raced away from defending a corner at one end to almost score at the other but this time Onana made an excellent covering tackle to break it up in his own box.
Harrison was fouled by Kostas Tsimikas in the 20th minute for what looked to be the same kind of challenge as the one for which Young was fouled but the referee was nonplussed by James Tarkowski’s protestations.
Tarkowski’s trip on Diogo Jota gave the Portuguese the chance to try and beat Jordan Pickford from a direct free-kick but could only drive his shot into the defensive wall and when Salah barged McNeil off the ball three minutes later, he could only sweep a curling effort over the crossbar.
The complexion of the game changed completely, though, when Young jumped in recklessly on Diaz and chopped him down just outside the area and, after a pause from referee, was shown a second yellow card.
Trent Alexander-Arnold smashed a shot a couple of feet over at one end and McNeil forced Alisson into tipping the ball over his own bar at the other but it was goalless at the halfway stage.
Sean Dyche switched to a more defensive posture to start the second half, withdrawing Harrison and McNeil and throwing Keane and Patterson on in their stead and for half an hour, the Blues were holding steady.
Tarkowski’s excellent block denied Salah a clear shot at goal from about eight yards out and he followed that up by repelling Jota from the rebound in the 52nd minute.
Dyche then replaced Calvert-Lewin with Beto but, naturally, it was Jürgen Klopp’s men who continued to threaten, Patterson surviving howls for a penalty when Diaz went down in the box under his challenge but a minute later, Keane gave Pawson, who had earlier waved away appeals for a second yellow card for Ibrahima Konaté, the pretext to award the decisive spot-kick.
Diaz’s cross had struck the defender’s out-stretched hand and while the referee had opted not to blow for a penalty, Video Assistant Referee David Coote advised him to take another look on the pitch-side monitor and he duly reversed his decision.
Salah drove home the resulting penalty and it was, effecitively, game over with 15 minutes of the 90 to go.
Pickford saved from Jota, substitute Darwin Nunez’s centre ricocheted off Jarrad Branthwaite and narrowly behind, Pickford did superbly to push Harvey Elliott’s stinging long-range shot onto the bar and over, and Jota fizzed one into the side-netting as the reds tried to kill the game.
They did that as Everton tried to force an unlikely equaliser and were undone on the break as Nunez and Salah tore away and the Egyptian converted the Uruguayan’s pass to make it 2-0.