Which Everton player is most important to a potential success over Liverpool in the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium?
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This Sunday sees the first-ever Merseyside Derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium. But which Everton player is most important to a potential success over Liverpool?
Members of the ECHO sportsdesk have their say...
Chris Beesley
Incredibly, it seems that right-back has been even more of a problem position for Liverpool this season than Everton. Since Trent Alexander-Arnold defected to Real Madrid last summer, Arne Slot has deployed no fewer than half a dozen different players there this term.
Perhaps if Alexander-Arnold – who was left out of the last England squad – wants to end his pain in Spain and is feeling homesick, he might fancy coming back to his roots and joining the Blues this summer and David Moyes could help teach him how to defend and improve his all-round game? But even then, he might face a struggle displacing ‘The Cork Cafu’ Jake O’Brien from the spot.
Pre-derby banter aside, this isn’t he caricature of an Everton side that some Liverpool supporters like to paint in their heads. I remember covering a derby at Anfield under Sean Dyche and many home patrons seemed to think they were playing a cross between Wimbledon’s ‘Crazy Gang’ and the Dog & Duck.
Yes, Blues supporters, as they will for every fixture, especially a derby match, will quite rightly be demanding a high level of physicality from their team, but this isn’t a bunch of yard dogs, Moyes has got several talented ball players at his disposal. Through the spine of the team there is Jarrad Branthwaite who can carry the ball forwards out of defence; James Garner, who combines silk as well as steel in the middle and is capable of picking out inch-perfect through-balls as well as being a dead-ball expert, while off the frontman, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has brought a new dimension to the side.
However, it’s out wide that Everton have got their magic man. With Jack Grealish out injured, Iliman Ndiaye has been restored to the left wing and whoever ends up at right-back for the Reds, he can use brains rather than mere brawn to take the game to them.
Connor O'Neill
It is safe to say that Beto has endured quite a mixed campaign for Everton so far this season.
At one point he was very much playing back-up to Thierno Barry, with his future at the club looking uncertain.
But after his performances against Chelsea and Brentford, either side of the international break, he is now back at the Blues’ first-choice forward. And he could be key to his side claiming all three points on Sunday.
I thought Beto was brilliant up against Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate at Goodison Park last season. He worked his socks off, held the ball up well and put both Van Dijk and Konate under pressure, and when his big chance arrived, he took it.
And that is exactly what he must do again on Sunday. He must ensure Van Dijk and Konate know they are in a battle, and when a chance comes, he must take it.
That hasn’t always happened with Beto in his time as an Everton player. He’s often been guilty of failing to take his chances.
However, in recent weeks he has started showing the sort of composure required to be a No. 9 in the Premier League.
Granted there are plenty of other factors that need to go Everton's way in order for them to claim all three points on Sunday, but Beto having a good game for me is going to be crucial.