Not long now until the kick-off of the 241st Merseyside derby. Liverpool football club have been playing their noisy neighbours, Everton, for supremacy of the city of Liverpool since 1894. The two clubs have met every year in either the old First Division or the Premier League since 1962.
This is Liverpool's first match since Wednesday night's last-gasp win against Newcastle at Anfield. Everton drew on Tuesday at Leeds United. Neither team has to be happy with the start of their seasons. Liverpool have finally started to click after a slow start. Everton still haven't won a Premier League match this year.
Liverpool get 4 significant boosts to their lineup going into this derby. Darwin Núñez has served his 3-game suspension and is back and is directed back into the starting lineup. Diogo Jota is also fit from his thigh injury and will start this game on the bench.
Contrary to what Jürgen Klopp said yesterday, new loan signing Arthur Melo is on the bench. He wasn't expected to get his visa clearance to enter the UK until early next week. Joël Matip also makes his return to the bench.
Overall there are 3 changes from the Reds' lineup on Wednesday night. Somewhat shockingly, Roberto Firmino is dropped to the bench in favour of Núñez. Less shockingly is Fabio Carvalho's first start for Liverpool. The other summer signing has earned the start.
Finally, Kostas Tsimikas spells Andy Robertson on the back line. There is clearly some squad rotation happening by the manager.
Here are the lineups for today's edition of the Merseyside derby:
Everton
Starters
Pickford, Patterson, Tarkowski, Coady, Mykolenko, Onana, Davies, Iwobi, Gordon, Gray, Maupay
Substitutes
Begovic, Keane, Allan, McNeil, Coleman, Gana, Vinagre, Rondon, Mills
Liverpool
Starters
Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, Fabinho, Elliott, Carvalho, Salah, Núñez, Díaz
Substitutes
Adrian, Milner, Firmino, Jota, Robertson, Arthur, Matip, Bajcetic, Phillips,
LFC Globe Verdict
Klopp shows his confidence in Darwin Núñez. During his press conference on Friday, the Boss said the Uruguayan striker has grown from his mistake. Now he doubles down by putting him right back in the lineup. It is shocking to me that he did it at the expense of Firmino, though.
The number of changes to the lineup aren't surprising, due to the midweek match. We are going to see a lot of squad rotation for the Reds from now on. With the Champions League starting up next week, the manager will need to keep players fresh.
Klopp made some decisive changes to the lineup today. Hopefully, it will pay off in a Merseyside derby victory. And I think it will. Everton will be game and I think it could be a low-scoring game. I'm going to say the Reds beat the Blues by the score of 1-0. Look to either Firmino or Jota to come on a super sub in the 2nd half and score the winner.
