Everton are down... but not out

Virgil van Dijk sauntering away in front of the South Stand at Hill Dickinson Stadium, celebrating putting Liverpool 2-1 up in the 10th minute of 11 added on, will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

Liverpool won the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium. It is the first time since 2021, when Everton played under Rafael Benitez, that the Reds have won an away derby.

It’s even so more frustrating because Liverpool were there for the taking.

Five points separated the teams heading into the game; Everton fans gathered en masse on Regent Road for an epic bus welcome; and the 1878s did another superb job of making the ground look spectacular before kick-off.

Everton started positively, getting on the front foot, hunting Liverpool down. Beto glanced a header goalwards, forcing Giorgi Mamardashvili into action. Everton’s in-form Number 9 then raced through onto an exquisite Jarrad Branthwaite pass, yet got his finish all wrong.

But buoyed on by a fervent crowd, David Moyes’s men kept going, and it seemed as though there would be another lift-off moment when Iliman Ndiaye coolly took in a deflected cross and picked out the right-hand corner. The celebrations were incredible, Ndiaye going as far to shout “We built this city” into the South Stand. But the goal was ruled out — Jake O’Brien did not get back onside in the build-up.

It was from that moment on, though, that classic Everton set in.

Not 2 minutes later, Mohamed Salah (good riddance, by the way!) put Liverpool ahead. It was his ninth goal against Everton in the Premier League. No Reds player has more against the Toffees in the competition.

Dwight McNeil was at fault with a bad giveaway, and Everton looked all at sea. But they made it through to half-time and, after working their way back into it, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall provided a real moment of quality, taking in Vitaliy Mykolenko’s lofted pass and drilling it across for Beto to nudge home.

In the process, Mamardashvili was injured, and forced off, but from then on, Everton just could not get into their groove. They had their moments, but Freddie Woodman — making his first Premier League appearance in 5 years — was not really tested.

The game swung, though, on two Everton injuries.

First, Beto had to go off after a knock to his head, and then, Branthwaite went down clutching his hamstring. His season will almost certainly now be over.

Yet still, even as the clock ticked into a mammoth amount of stoppage time, it felt as though the point Everton’s display merited would at least keep some form of momentum going. Instead, in true Everton fashion, the worst-case scenario came to pass.

The temptation now would be to write Everton’s European hopes off.

Certainly, any dreams of a push for Champions League qualification have now been dashed, and not all of the other results went Everton’s way.

But it is not over, by any means.

Everton are now 10th, but just 1 point off Chelsea in 6th. As it stands, the Top 7 will get into European competitions next season. The only way that will change in terms of how many Premier League teams qualify for continental football via their league finish will be if Manchester City win the FA Cup.

So, let’s all hope Pep Guardiola’s team do the business in that competition, with their sights now firmly set on a domestic treble.

Man City are the next visitors to Hill Dickinson Stadium, but first up it’s a trip to relegation-battling West Ham, who face Crystal Palace on Monday. It now has to be a case of one game at a time.

As easy as it would be to be doom and gloom, Everton’s form is not bad.

Across the past five games, they have taken 7 points. Of the teams from 12th upwards, Brighton lead the way in the same time with 10 points, while Bournemouth and Sunderland have taken 9. Fulham and Brentford have taken 5 each. Chelsea, who occupy 6th place on goal difference, have taken just 3 points and have lost their last four games without scoring a single goal. That is their worst such run since 1998.

It is going to be extremely tight — it was always going to be — and Moyes has to view Saturday’s reunion with the Hammers as a must-win. 

At this stage, momentum is with Brighton, who salvaged a fortunate point at Tottenham, and Bournemouth, who are unbeaten since January, but like in Sunday’s derby, there is still bound to be a twist or two to come.

Everton were on the wrong end of one in the derby, but now it’s about the reaction.

What's done is done, it’s time to move on. The Toffees took a sucker punch, but are not out of the fight.

 

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