Everton's main priority will be trying to stop Liverpool's 'fab four', admits Sam Allardyce
The Reds have 40 goals in their last 11 games in all competitions
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Your support makes all the difference.Sam Allardyce admits the main priority for his Everton players in Sunday’s Merseyside derby will be to stifle Liverpool’s attacking potency.
Liverpool have scored 40 goals in their last 11 matches in all competitions, and are unbeaten in six Premier League matches with five wins and 19 goals scored.
The Reds enter the fixture at Goodison Park on the back of a 7-0 thrashing of Spartak Moscow which secured their place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Everton have not won at Anfield for 18 years, but it is the current form of Jurgen Klopp's side rather than the burden of history which will influence the Everton manager's tactical approach.
“It is about us handling that and that pressure and atmosphere,” Allardyce said. “And handling a team that I have to admit is probably in the best form since Jurgen arrived and one of the best strike forces available in the Premier League.
“We certainly have to master that on Sunday before we can think can we get at Liverpool and get in the right areas to score a goal and not waste the possession we get, and not let the occasion overawe us.
“All I can ask is the players to play their best game, it still might not be good enough against Liverpool because of the form they are in.”
Allardyce does at least have the experience of a win at Anfield in April while at Crystal Palace to draw upon.
That 2-1 success was his first victory in the Premier League at the ground, having drawn three and lost 10 on his previous 13 visits
Although if Everton do park the bus on Sunday, there is no guarantee that the Toffees would come away from Anfield with anything.
Allardyce continued: “Sometimes you just have to hold your hand up and say the pure genius of the movement, and quality of the movement, you can't say, ‘If we block these two players off then we will stop Liverpool’.
“It’s more than that at the moment the way they are going, it’s four or five for me. That is the hard bit for us, that interchange of movement, the runs that they make, the skill have on the ball.
“Their finishing has increased, they don't have to rely on one or two people to score goals, they have goals all around the front line now.
“So we have to make sure we try our very best to cope with that. If we do cope with that, what do we do when we get the ball?
“If we are not going to be clinical, if we don't show quality when we get the ball then we are going to struggle get out of our own half, and if we don’t get out of our own half then ultimately we will make a mistake and Liverpool might capitalise on it.”
Everton winger Yannick Bolasie is closing in on a first-term return after a long-term knee injury, although will not be fit in time to face Liverpool while defender Phil Jagielka is fit again after a knock.
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