Everton v Liverpool: One big game, five big questions

Steven Chicken

There is not a single game this season that Everton fans would rather see their team win than this one. They haven’t seen it happen for eight-and-a-half years, for a start, but just to sweeten the deal, an Everton victory could well end up costing the Reds the title.

The strangest goal of the season in the sixth minute of injury time decided the reverse fixture at Anfield on December 2, but despite being goalless up until Jordan Pickford gifted Divock Origi the winner, the game was open and entertaining throughout, with both sides wasting good chances to score.

Here are the five big tactical questions ahead of Everton v Liverpool on Sunday:

 

1) With Trent Alexander-Arnold and two centre-backs fit, who starts in central midfield?
Jurgen Klopp’s injury problems may have blighted the defence, but the knock-on effects have also been felt in midfield. James Milner and Jordan Henderson have both appeared at full-back, while a mixture of injuries and suspensions saw Fabinho fill in at centre-back against Bayern Munich last week.

Thankfully for Klopp, he is well-stocked in central midfield, with Naby Keita, Xherdan Shaqiri, Georginio Wijnaldum and Adam Lallana all also fit and raring to go. That leaves the Liverpool manager with a choice of seven central midfielders to fit into just three places, including his captain, who was phenomenal against Bayern but much less so against Manchester United.

Wijnaldum has been superb all season, especially when used in a box-to-box role, so he seems likely to get the nod; and the fact that Henderson was rested against Watford suggests Klopp plans to use him for the derby.

That leaves one more space, and the choice is not a straightforward one. Does Klopp take note of Gylfi Sigurdsson’s excellent recent form and bring in Fabinho to counteract the Icelander? Does he go with the balance and drive offered by Keita, with Henderson or Wijnaldum taking on the more defensive role? Or does he go all out to address the lack of a creative midfield spark that afflicted them against United and Bayern by deploying Shaqiri?

Ah, the tyranny of choice.

 

2) Is Klopp’s 4-2-3-1 now totally off the table?
A few months ago we questioned why Klopp had been experimenting with a 4-2-3-1 that he only deployed against weaker opposition while sticking with 4-3-3 against the bigger teams.

It may well have simply been a way to get Shaqiri into the team alongside his chosen front three of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, but it worked: Liverpool used it in 11 games, winning 10 (including the 1-0 win over Everton in December) and drawing one.

But in the five games since that draw – the 1-1 with Leicester on 30th January – Klopp has stuck religiously to his 4-3-3.

That formation is all well and good when the full-backs and the forwards are in good form, as Watford can attest following the 5-0 hammering Liverpool inflicted upon them on Wednesday night despite the absence of Firmino. But when the full-backs are shut down or out-of-sorts, it can result in the front three looking isolated, without an effective link to the midfield trio.

Klopp will likely be understandably loath to switch away from a system that just yielded a 5-0 win, of course, but could the fact that they will be away from home in a big derby they cannot afford to lose be enough to turn his thoughts back to his half-abandoned alternative?

 

3) Can Everton’s wingers force Liverpool’s full-backs into a retreat?
If Klopp does stick with his 4-3-3, then Liverpool’s win against Watford presents Everton with an obvious but by no means simple challenge: keep Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson contained as much as you can.

The Liverpool full-backs set up all five of the Reds’ midweek goals (three from the right, two from the left), but Manchester United showed that the threat of counter-attack can be the best form of defence, with the left-sided combination of Luke Shaw and Paul Pogba stopping makeshift full-back Milner from getting too close to the touchline.

Everton may not have Pogba (spoiler: they definitely don’t have Pogba), but whichever two of Richarlison, Bernard or Theo Walcott start at Goodison Park – with Ademola Lookman likely to appear from the bench – Everton have the potential not only to give the Liverpool full-backs reason not to over-commit, but to create something for themselves on the counter…especially if their own full-backs are able to pick opportune moments to get forward themselves.

Everton proved as much in their 3-0 win against Cardiff on Tuesday, with their first two goals coming from byline cutbacks from Seamus Coleman and Bernard.

It is also worth remembering the chances Everton made last time these sides met: Walcott came painfully close to rounding Alisson and putting Everton ahead, and Richarlison would have had a similar one-on-one if he had not tripped over his own feet.

 

4) Mane in the middle?
Yes. No. Maybe? I don’t know. Can you repeat the question?

Firmino missed the Watford win with the ankle injury that forced him to limp off in that bizarre first half at Old Trafford, but the official news from Liverpool the day before the game was that the injury wasn’t too bad and the Brazilian could have featured.

That suggests he could well be fit enough to face Everton, but the question is whether Klopp would bring him back in any case: Sadio Mane scored twice against Watford after shifting into the centre, with Origi looking surprisingly effective out on the left.

Firmino’s work off the ball makes him one of the most important players in Klopp’s system, but there have been plenty of occasions this season when Firmino has struggled to assert himself as a striker: he has scored just nine league goals this season, and just two in all competitions since his hat-trick against Arsenal at the end of December.

Might it make sense to try switching Mane and Firmino?

 

5) Will Everton just go for it, or will Silva settle for saving face?
Everton had lost five out of their previous six games prior to their 3-0 win at Cardiff on Tuesday night, and manager Marco Silva was facing greater and greater scrutiny.

The win in south Wales came after an opportunely-timed two-and-a-half weeks off for the Toffees, which has taken some of the glare off the spotlight Silva was under, but it would be back at full beam if they were to suffer a humiliation at home to their fiercest rivals.

That leaves Silva in a quandary. Does he instruct his side to sit back and hope to snatch a point, or at very least keep the score down? Or does he show rather more adventure, as he did in December and came within a last-second Pickford nightmare of pulling off?

That goalkeeping error masked the fact that Everton had caused Liverpool no little trouble with their speed and some well-timed through balls. As discussed, the wingers can provide the former; it is down primarily to Sigurdsson to sort out the latter.

Given the inconsistency of his side, the sensible approach might be to go for the bold approach and see whether Sigurdsson and Richarlison are on their game, then make a judgement call as the game unfolds.

 

Steven Chicken is on Twitter