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Sean Dyche details Everton plans for Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, Arne Slot thoughts and injury…

Everton manager Sean Dyche has been speaking ahead of the last ever Premier League Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park

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Sean Dyche speaks to the media during the Everton Press Conference at Finch Farm on October 17, 2024

(Image: Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC)

Sean Dyche admits his Everton players can’t just focus on Mohamed Salah as they prepare to face Liverpool in the last ever Premier League Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park. The Egypt international has been involved in three quarters of the Reds’ goals so far this season and has scored seven times for them in 11 previous matches against the Blues.

Dyche said: “He’s a fine player, we know that, but you’ve got to be careful with that in mind, thinking of the game. I’ve been doing it a long time, if you put all your focus on one player, they’ve got some other very good players, and a lot of teams have, so I’ve got to be careful with that.

“But, of course, in modern football, I don’t think we have to show them endless clips of someone like Mo Salah. I think they’re aware. We operate as a team. It would just be about one player, it will be about working as a team, for the whole team we’re facing.”

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Dyche became the first Everton manager to beat Jurgen Klopp in front of fans in the last derby when the Blues triumphed 2-0 on April 24, to secure their first Goodison Park success in the fixture for 13-and-a-half years. With the German stepping down at Anfield at the end of last season, replacement Arne Slot has steered Liverpool to the top of the table and his rival in the dugout for Saturday’s fixture admires the subtlety of the Dutchman’s approach.

Dyche said: “I think a lot of what’s impressed me is that I don’t think he’s made a massive amount of change. I don’t know inside the camp, obviously, with his training, I don’t know how he goes about that, but for me that’s a good part of management.

“If there’s not that much wrong, you don’t have to radically change everything. They’re still operating in a high-tempo manner, they can still be effective in different ways, and he seems to have kept that going in his own style.

“I don’t know what that style is internally, of course, but externally it just seems to be letting it go along and being quite a smooth transition it seems to me. I suppose in a way it’s a healthy transition in that it’s a manager who said he’s going to leave and another one comes in, it’s not like it’s been a disaster, and he comes in, so it’s a slightly different scenario, but they’re going well and that’s quite obvious, they’re a good outfit, and we’re going to have to be on the top of our form.”

Everton have no fresh injury worries going into the fixture as they prepare to play their third match in seven days. Dyche said: “We’ve got a couple of knocks but nothing serious, nothing that we think is going to put anyone in any doubt. Michael Keane will be touch and go, coming back into it, he’s got a minor knee ligament injury, which has kept him out.

“Youssef (Chermiti) is getting strong but is not there. Tim (Iroegbunam) is way off, behind, and so is Jimmy Garner, but they’re in the process of getting back fit.”

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