King Brenny and the hordes of Mordor are marching towards
Goodison Park to contest the 219th Merseyside derby, so I can only
hope that David Moyes and his hard luck heroes are prepared for whatever disaster
is likely to ensue.
Everton go into Sunday’s lunch time clash sitting fourth in
the Premier League, six points ahead of their opponents, but after two away
fixtures that turned out to be a lot more difficult than they needed to be,
confidence isn’t quite as high as it was a month ago. That being said, Everton
remain unbeaten in their last five outings, and have suffered just one defeat
so far this term.
Liverpool are starting to find a bit of form themselves,
having won two of their last three in the league, and they looked fairly solid
again on Thursday night when recording a 1-0 win over an expensively assembled
Anzhi Makhachkala team in the Europa League. To be honest though, even if
Liverpool were bottom of the league with a goal difference of -40, the fact
that David Moyes’ record against them is absolutely shite would still make an
Everton victory anything but a forgone conclusion.
Last season represented Moyes’ nadir in terms of derby
performances, as Everton followed an unfortunate 2-0 home defeat (where Jack
Rodwell was sent off courtesy of a phenomenal piece of play-acting by Luis
Suarez) with a disgraceful 3-0 hammering at Anfield and a pathetic surrender at
Wembley. I don’t want to tempt to fate, but you’d have to believe that it
couldn’t possibly be as bad this time around.
News that Marouane Fellaini is likely to return from injury has
provided concerned Blues with a massive boost, not least because Steven Pienaar
is due to serve a one-match suspension for startling Jose Bosingwa during the
draw at QPR, though whether or not Darron Gibson and Tony Hibbert will be ready
in time remains a mystery.
Gibson in particular has been missed in recent weeks. Cynics
may suggest that his Bill Goldberg-style Premier League winning streak is bound
to come to an end in a game against Liverpool, but getting him back in ahead of
Phil ‘traffic cone’ Neville would greatly improve Everton’s chances of
recording a first derby win in what feels like a very long time. Liverpool may
not be as strong in centre midfield as they were in the days before Rafael
Benitez turned into the Mad King from Game of Thrones, but it’s still the area
in which they’re strongest.
Steven Gerrard will party like it’s 2005, as he always does
against Everton, while Jonjo Shelvey and Nuri Sahin are both tidy footballers
with better engines than Neville and Leon Osman. Hopefully Brendan Rodgers will
opt for Joe Allen rather than one of Shelvey or Sahin, but even if he does, it’ll
be tough for Neville and Osman to compete judging by their poor showing at
Loftus Road.
As has often been the case in derbies since Everton escaped
the post-Kendall decade of despair, it seems as though belief is going to be
key. The good will that was re-built between the opposing
sets of fans in the wake of the Hillsborough revelations should keep things
fairly cordial off the pitch, but that’s unlikely to stop Everton dropping their
arses on it. Liverpool are still a good side, but they’re not even close to
what they were three years ago, and, on paper at least, Everton don’t have a
great deal to fear if they can keep their nerve.
Suarez will need to be watched closely – for all his faults
he’s very, very good – and they have a very exciting talent in Raheem Sterling,
but if Everton can cut out the individual errors that so often mark these
occasions there’s no reason they can’t keep Liverpool on the back foot.
If Moyes decides to return my calls, this is the XI I’ll be
telling him to go with: Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Heitinga, Baines; Gibson,
Osman, Fellaini, Mirallas, Naismith; Jelavic
