Liverpool's pursuit for their first ever Premier League title comes down to the final 10 games and they begin the run towards the finish line taking on their local rivals Everton in a Merseyside Derby. The reverse fixture between these sides ended in dramatic fashion with Divock Origi becoming the unlikely hero after he came off the bench to score one of the most bizarre goals of the season.
Jordan Pickford is most likely still having nightmares about the part he played in that winning goal and the fact Origi made a rare start for Liverpool and scored last time out may have given the Everton keeper sleepless nights in the lead up to Sunday's game. Manchester City returned to the top of the league with a 1-0 victory against Bournemouth today sending them 2 points clear piling the pressure on Liverpool who will have to defeat Everton to retake the top spot. Everton sit in the middle of the league with nothing really to play for in terms of advancing their position in the table, however, the chance to derail their neighbour's title challenge will be seen as a huge achievement by their fans so you can be sure they will be well up for it and this may be another hard-fought encounter.
Roberto Firmino remains a doubt for Liverpool after missing the 5-0 win against Watford with an ankle injury, while Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain are all sidelined with long term injuries. There are suggestions Firmino may be fit enough to play but given the success of the side at Watford, it is likely that Jurgen Klopp may choose to stick with the same starting line-up. Sadio Mane played as a central attacker in place of the Brazilan and proved very successful scoring twice while Divock Origi played down the left and also helped himself to a goal. Origi has a good goalscoring record against Everton and so it seems logical that he may enjoy another start. If there are any changes to the lineup for Liverpool they will likely come in midfield, they covered a lot of ground against Watford, especially James Milner and so Henderson or Keita may be brought in to add some fresh legs.
Everton has been on a bit of a slump since the defeat at Anfield with just 5 wins from 16 games since then, they did win their latest game 0-3 at Cardiff which ended a run of three consecutive defeats. At home, they are fairing even worse with just one win from the last seven league home games but may draw a bit of hope from Liverpool only managing to draw their last two league away games. Andre Gomes was left out for the Cardiff victory but is likely to return to the team for Sunday while Jerry Mina may also recover in time to feature in defence. Left-back Leighton Baines is Marco Silva's only injury coming into the game but the Everton manager has a more than adequate replacement in former Barca full-back Lucas Digne.
The Merseyside derbies are always must win games but with Liverpool mounting a serious charge for the Premier League title, there will be even more at stake this time around. Manchester City are capable of winning every game until the end of the season and so Liverpool will need to try and do the same if they want to get their hands on the trophy. Points dropped against Everton wouldn't end their hopes of winning the league but it would certainly be a crushing blow.
this will be tough for Liverpool
Everton do usually make it tough for Liverpool but I am quite hopeful Liverpool can sweep them aside as they did to Watford.
Really didn't like the way Liverpool played against Bayern. Get Salah onto the bench, ASAP!
I am not sure we can afford to have him on the bench to be honest. He hasn't been his best all season but has still managed to score a lot of goals and set up plenty.
I'd love to have Salah from last season back though.
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