Everton seek an elusive derby win, tiring Spurs encourage Arsenal, Rodgers returns to Watford and Dyche eyes safety
Easy to forget after Virgil van Dijk sliced a woeful shot into the sky, Jordan Pickford flapped and Divock Origi plundered the most ludicrous goal in Merseyside derby history – step aside, Sandy Brown – but Everton should have won at Anfield in December. Yerry Mina missed an early close-range header; Alisson made a point-blank save from André Gomes; Joe Gomez was forced to hook the rebound off the line. Had any of those gone in … but it ended how it ended, and collective confidence crashed through the floor. Spooky timing, then, that Everton put in their best performance since then at Cardiff midweek. That should provide succour and the belief to go at their arch rivals again, in the hope of reward this time. Especially as the in-form, two-goal Gylfi Sigurdsson has so often before been a thorn in Liverpool’s side. Can the Iceland international – who has scored against them four times during spells at Reading, Swansea and Everton – inspire his current side to a first derby win since Roy Hodgson was in town? SM
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