Everton v Liverpool predictions: Reds to heap more misery on Merseyside rivals

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Everton v Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 12.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Liverpool to win & under 3.5 goals
1pt 11-8 BoyleSports

Team news

Everton
Andros Townsend, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Mason Holgate (all knee), Ben Godfrey (leg), Yerry Mina (ankle) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (thigh) are sidelined but new signings James Garner and Idrissa Gueye hope to be involved.

Liverpool
Thiago Alcantara (thigh) has not featured since the opening game of the season. Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (both thigh), Ibrahima Konate (knee) and Naby Keita (muscle strain) are ruled out. Darwin Nunez is available after a ban, Diogo Jota is back in training and Arthur could make his debut.

Match preview

Liverpool left it late to overcome Newcastle 2-1 on Wednesday but they are starting to rebuild after a slow start to the season and can make it three wins from three by defeating Everton at Goodison Park.

Jurgen Klopp will be aware of the potential for a setback on derby day, having seen his team share the points on four of their last five trips across Stanley Park.

And a victory may have to be hard-earned this weekend because Everton are desperate to register their first Premier League win of the season.

Only goal difference is keeping the Toffees out of the drop zone and their situation could get much worse because four of their next six matches are against 'big six' opposition.

Everton can rise to the big occasion, as they showed last season with home wins over Arsenal (2-1) Manchester United (1-0) and Chelsea (1-0), but they finished the campaign only four points above the bottom three and there are fears of getting dragged into another relegation battle.

Frank Lampard has not had the biggest of budgets to work with and his first transfer window as Everton manager achieved mixed results.

Everton's midfield should be stronger after the additions of Idrissa Gueye, James Garner and Amadou Onana and there is a more solid look to the back line with James Tarkowski and Conor Coady on board.

But the Toffees appear to be weaker in attack after replacing Richarlison with Neal Maupay and they are still too reliant on injury-prone centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Calvert-Lewin scored five goals in 17 league appearances last season and has been unable to feature this term.

In his absence Everton have lacked a cutting edge with just four goals scored in five games and efforts to add extra firepower were fruitless as deadline-day bids for Championship forwards Ben Brereton Diaz and Joao Pedro fell short of the mark.

Lampard has often set up without a natural centre-forward but it is a far from ideal situation and Everton's chances of a positive result against Liverpool may depend on a spirited rearguard effort.

However, clean sheets against Liverpool are a rarity as Klopp's men have found the net in 24 successive Premier League games and it may only take a single goal to seal victory for the Reds.

Liverpool have won their last two games in contrasting styles, running riot in the 9-0 triumph over Bournemouth and showing persistence to topple Newcastle thanks to a 98th-minute winner.

However, they will be feeling much happier after taking six points from six and should be confident of further improvement once their injury situation improves.

Concerns over a lack of depth in midfield were addressed by the deadline-day loan signing of Arthur from Juventus and a positive week can be rounded off by a hard-fought, low-scoring success against their local rivals.

Key stat

Nine of the last 11 matches between Everton and Liverpool have featured fewer than four goals.

Inside info

Everton

Penalty taker Neal Maupay
Assist ace Anthony Gordon
Set-piece aerial threat James Tarkowski
Card magnet Tom Davies

Liverpool

Penalty taker Mohamed Salah
Assist ace Trent Alexander-Arnold
Set-piece aerial threat Virgil van Dijk
Card magnet Fabinho

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