Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk will lead out the team for the final Goodison Park derby against Everton on Saturday lunchtime
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Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk plays during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Liverpool at St. James's Park
(Image: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Virgil van Dijk insists Liverpool are desperate to make up for April's Merseyside derby collapse at Everton when they travel to Goodison Park for the final time on Saturday lunchtime. The Reds suffered a 2-0 defeat on their last trip, towards the back end of the 23/24 campaign, as goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominc Calvert-Lewin condemned the visitors to just their second derby defeat since 2010.
Blues fans understandably revelled in the victory on the evening itself, singing to Liverpool about how they "lost the league at Goodison Park" but Van Dijk has now laughed off such taunts ahead of the final ever trip across Stanley Park before Everton move to their new home on the waterfront.
"Who said that (Goodison defeat ended title hopes)?! Wow!" Van Dijk said, speaking after Wednesday night's 3-3 draw with Newcastle United. "They can chat whatever they want! That game was very disappointing in so many ways but Saturday is another opportunity.
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"It's a game where they will definitely be up for it but so will we. I'm really looking forward to it, going there with our fans but we all know we have to improve - especially from the first half in terms of the fight in a good way.
"I knew already we are going to have ups and downs this year, this (Newcastle draw) is not a real down even if it feels like it at this point. We will be in, recovering and fresh and ready to attack the next challenge. We have to learn from the first half quite quickly."
On Mohamed Salah, whose two goals at Newcastle took him up to 15 for the season, Van Dijk added: "I think we all know how it works in football, one week you can say that [he's the best in the world], next week they say something else. I want him to be important like he was in the second half and Saturday is another big one so hopefully he can keep it going."
The skipper also reserved a message for goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after a rare mistake allowed Fabian Schar to sneak in and equalise around the back late on at St James' Park.
The Ireland international has generally excelled in the two-month-long absence of Alisson Becker and Van Dijk refused to point the finger at the stand-in goalkeeper.
"Obviously these things unfortunately happen in football," Van Dijk said. "You have to keep going. Don't listen to the reaction or people who will be very harsh on him in my opinion.
"There will always be people out there. He has an outstanding season so far and he needs to keep going. We need him to be focused in a few hours when we're back on the pitch. He will learn from this as we all have to learn from the first half and hopefully be ready for a very, very big one on Saturday which will be very tough."