Everton vs Liverpool LIVE: Premier League result and final score as Calvert-Lewin lands title race blow

Mohamed Salah has five goals in his last five league appearances against Everton but has struggled for form since returning from a hamstring injury. Salah has not scored or assisted a goal from open play since the 2-1 win over Brighton at the end of March, but has a strong record against the Toffees.

Feyenoord’s Arne Slot is a leading candidate to take over at Liverpool as the Merseyside club look to appoint Jurgen Klopp’s successor, writes Richard Jolly.

Their search for their next manager has interest in the 45-year-old Dutchman, who won Feyenoord’s first Eredivisie title in six years last season and the KNVB Cup this week and who was a contender for the Tottenham job last summer before deciding to stay in the Netherlands.

Slot has emerged as a frontrunner after Liverpool missed on Xabi Alonso after their former midfielder opted to stay with Bayer Leverkusen, who have just won the German title, while they have also considered the merits of Ruben Amorim, the Sporting Lisbon manager who has held talks with West Ham.

Slot’s attacking style of play and track record of improving young players are thought to tally with Liverpool’s requirements while the Dutchman, who is under contract until 2026, is likely to leave his home country in his next move.

Why ‘the worst run club in the country’ is now playing for its future

As Liverpool prepare for a derby that could decide their title challenge, there are already comments around the training ground about how Everton will inevitably play above themselves. That would be quite a rise, though, because Sean Dyche’s side have been largely dismal. They may have won at the weekend against Nottingham Forest but it’s not like morale is much better. The controversy around Forest’s post-match statement, criticising refereeing decisions, only adds to the mood. There’s been a sense of getting away with it, as much bigger issues weigh over the club. If Liverpool are playing for Jurgen Klopp’s place in history, Everton are playing for their future. It really is that extreme, with the club potentially weeks from administration.

Even on the football side, few are exactly happy, which sums up the modern Everton. They have become a tragic case study for many of the problems in the modern game. A lot of the issues that complicate football in 2024 can be seen at Goodison Park, as if the distinctive history of this great club has uniquely distilled all these problems. That goes from the pitch to almost everything off it. There’s how you play, how a club is run, what a club can aim for, how you compete, how you spend, the economy of the sport, right up to regulations and - above all - ownership.

Everton have brought all this together, writes Miguel Delaney

Everton manager Sean Dyche on his “massive respect” for Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.

“For what he has done there, and his other clubs. One thing I’ve learned about management is it’s not easy to build things, and he has done it at three different clubs.

“Two good wins, two clean sheets at home. We want to continue that form, whoever it’s against - and it just happens this one is against Liverpool.”

Sean Dyche is relishing the prospect of his first home Merseyside derby as Everton boss as the Toffees aim for another Goodison Park victory to take them closer to safety.

After going winless in 13 Premier League matches, Everton have triumphed in two of their last three, both at home, against fellow strugglers Burnley (1-0) on April 6 and Nottingham Forest (2-0) on Sunday.

That has left them five points clear of the relegation zone in 16th place with five games remaining, one more than the three teams directly below them: Forest, who like Everton are appealing against a points deduction, Luton and Burnley.

And the next two are also at home, against title-chasing Liverpool on Wednesday, then 15th-placed Brentford on Saturday.

Everton seeking a first derby win since 2021 and first at Goodison since 2010 and Dyche told a press conference: “The away game is different, because obviously the feel in the stadium.

“A home game - I’m well aware of all the records that people keep telling me - I’m looking forward to it. I didn’t grow up here, so I won’t have that depth of understanding - what I do understand is how important it is to be Everton’s manager, that’s for sure, in all games, and particularly this one, for obvious reasons.”

Jurgen Klopp was surprised by criticism of his side’s performance in the 3-1 win at Fulham as the Liverpool manager insisted results are all that matter when the Premier League title race is this close.

“I know this is the last part of the season: it is not about playing the freshest football of the whole year - that would be strange if that works out with the schedule all the teams have,” Klopp said.

“But you have to win games and I think we know how to do that and we have to make sure everybody understands the way we want to try (on Wednesday).

“I wouldn’t say it was straightforward but until two weeks ago everything was probably better than anyone would have expected.

“Then you have this week (losing to Atalanta and Crystal Palace) when the performances were not as bad as the results felt afterwards.

“And then it is like, ‘Why don’t you score enough? If you look at our numbers, yes, there are two teams who have scored more than us (Arsenal and Manchester City) but it is not like there are two teams who scored 50 goals more than us.

“It is always about how you can get the right feeling again for the situation and the next game and we usually do that. I am really happy now with the response.”

Jurgen Klopp has lost just one of his 18 matches against Everton as Liverpool manager, but with just two wins at Goodison Park in seven attempts.

Klopp’s five draws theere is more than any other away ground but Liverpool simply have to win if they are to keep pace with Arsenal and put the pressure on Manchester City.

“I don’t know exactly when my first derby was, 2016, but when I (first) came here it would not be honest if I said that is my game of the year. It wasn’t, I knew how important it was for the people, but didn’t feel it then,” he said.

“Now I know it and feel it. My understanding developed over the years. They are always difficult games, especially there, but it is not too important, what we had in the past.”

The Premier League is heading for a classic title race, with Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal set for a three-way battle as we enter the final weeks of the season.

Pep Guardiola’s side are aiming to win a fourth league title in a row – a feat that has never been achieved in the history of English football, and the title is now in their hands after both Liverpool and Arsenal slipped up at home on that fateful Sunday two weeks ago.

But it’s not over yet. With City in action in the FA Cup semi-finals last weekend, both Arsenal and Liverpool were left with two games to play before City’s next Premier League fixture. It’s a chance for Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta to put the pressure on.

Arsenal did their job, beating Wolves away and then thrashing Chelsea to move four points clear of Guardiola’s side. Liverpool go next in a midweek Merseyside derby, before City travel to Brighton.

So, with four weeks to go, which team has the best fixtures and who has the hardest run of games to end the season?

Crucial Merseyside derby brings unique pressure for Jurgen Klopp ahead of final clash with Everton

A Merseyside derby was Liverpool’s last game before Jurgen Klopp joined. Now he prepares for his last derby. He arrived in England with a sense of what it meant for those who grew up with it but, he reflected, “I would not be honest if I said it was my game of the year”. Some eight-and-a-half years later, as he looks forward to his 19th, “my understanding has developed”.

Improving his players’ grasp of the game involved a delve into Liverpool’s past, via clips of scousers who grew up on either side of the divide. “At the beginning I remember I showed the players videos of Carragher in the derby and Stevie where he got red cards – I love one, and respect the other a lot,” Klopp said; probably not in that order, either. Steven Gerrard was sent off twice against Everton, once for planting his studs into Kevin Campbell’s thigh as a teenager, once for collecting two cautions in the first 18 minutes as captain. There are Evertonians who think the boyhood Blue Jamie Carragher should have seen red as often.

A game nicknamed “the friendly derby” in earlier decades became notable for expulsions in the Premier League. “That’s what the people expect, that if you get a red card against Everton it’s fine. It’s not, it’s absolutely not because we want to win the game, and it’s the only reason why we go there,” Klopp rationalised.

Preview by Richard Jolly

Diogo Jota has been ruled out for two weeks and will miss most of the rest of Liverpool’s season.

The forward, who has had an injury-hit campaign, got a knock during Sunday’s 3-1 win at Fulham, which was his first start since February.

And he will now miss Wednesday’s Merseyside derby along with Liverpool’s games against West Ham and Tottenham in a blow to Jurgen Klopp’s title-chasing team.

Klopp said: “He will be out for two weeks. Before which game where he didn’t start, he got a knock – normal challenge, then felt a little bit at the hip. That was then fine because we didn’t start him, brought him on, that was alright. Then he started the last game and was obviously OK and then with the finish… it’s a small one but we are late in the season, so obviously now it’s not a great moment for each injury pretty much. It’s not a big one. When I say two weeks, actually really it’s pretty much nothing but enough to not be available.”