Rafa Benitez and Everton welcome Liverpool to Goodison Park for the first Merseyside derby of the season on Wednesday night at 8:15 pm.
The two sides come into the game in contrasting form – Everton are winless in seven and have only scored four goals in that stretch, conceding 13 while Liverpool sit two points off the top of the Premier League table with eight goals in their last two games in the competition.
Liverpool are expected to dominate possession in the game, with Everton tending to sit back and soak up pressure in the hope of releasing counter-attacks.
Since their first loss of the season against West Ham, Liverpool have looked superb, scoring 10 in three games without reply.
The return of Andrew Robertson against Southampton at the weekend saw him showcase his fantastic on-field relationship with Diogo Jota.
Jota, Sadio Mané and Mo Salah lead the goalscoring charts in the Premier League at the moment – The Portuguese forward and Mané have seven goals to their name while Salah sits top on 11.
Liverpool are already outscoring Everton in the competition by a ratio of 2.5 to 1 while Everton have allowed almost twice as many goals.
Four of Liverpool’s players have netted more than Everton’s top scorers Demarai Gray and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who will miss the game through injury.
Everton will also be without Yerry Mina and Tom Davies for the match, as well as Mason Holgate who is suspended for his red card against Tottenham Hotspur.
However, Andre Gomes is back in training and Richarlison is available for selection again after serving a suspension.
Joe Gomez and Naby Keita are still sidelined for the Reds alongside Roberto Firmino and Curtis Jones.
Teams
Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Coleman, Godfrey, Keane, Digne; Doucouré, Allan; Gray, Townsend, Richarlison; Rondon.
Subs: Begovic, Kenny, Delph, Iwobi, Tosun, Gordon, Gbamin, Branthwaite, Dobbin.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson; Trent, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Thiago, Henderson; Salah, Jota, Mané.
Subs: Kelleher, Konaté, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Tsimikas, Origi, Williams, Morton.
Odds
Everton 13/2
Draw 4/1
Liverpool 1/3
Where To Watch
The game will be available to watch live on Amazon Prime at no extra cost for Prime customers.
