There's much more than three points at stake as Everton host Liverpool in the final Premier League Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park
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Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iliman Ndiaye with Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk
Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iliman Ndiaye with Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk
Everton and Liverpool’s players are not just playing for the prestige of winning Goodison Park’s last-ever Premier League derby on Saturday, they’re competing to give their respective clubs the edge across 130 years of football history.
The 245th Merseyside Derby is in some ways a ‘winner takes all’ or ‘next goal wins’ scenario. We’re not talking about Everton’s prospects of moving further away from the relegation zone following their 4-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers or table topping Liverpool’s Premier League title prospects after their 3-3 draw at Newcastle United. No, it’s something much deeper, far more enduring than that.
Those who know their history will be aware that Everton celebrated their own first League Championship while still playing at Anfield in 1891 at a time when ‘brutal’ Bootle were their local rivals.
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After falling out with landlord John Houlding over their rent the following year, Everton relocated across Stanley Park to construct Goodison Park as the first purpose-built football ground in England.
To fill the financial void back at Anfield, Houlding then in turn created Liverpool Football Club, and after racing their way up through the Lancashire League and Second Division in back-to-back seasons, they found themselves on a level footing with Everton by the 1894/95 season.
Everton triumphed 3-0 in the inaugural Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park on October 13, 1894, and while it took 87 years of combat for Liverpool to move ahead in terms of victories, following a 3-1 triumph at Anfield on November 7, 1981, the Reds have now romped ahead with 31 more successes than their neighbours.
Although the balance of the overall head-to-head is now firmly tipped in Liverpool’s favour, the results at Goodison are finely balanced. So much so in fact, they’re on a knife edge as we prepare for what will be, unless the local rivals draw each other there in this season’s FA Cup, the Grand Old Lady’s final such fixture.
Over 130 years of football, Everton and Liverpool have played each other 119 times in senior matches at Goodison Park. Some 37 of these games have been drawn but with just one more Premier League meeting to come, each club has 41 victories apiece.
All to play for then...