Jurgen Klopp stood on the touchline and was serenaded with ‘You lost the league at Goodison Park’ by the home fans.
Not the way the soon-to-be-departing Liverpool manager would have wanted to bow out of the Merseyside Derby. This was his 19th derby and his first ever defeat at Goodison Park as well as just his second against Everton. Yet this will certainly hurt the most as it was seriously damaging to Liverpool’s title hopes.
They now look all but over. Two slip ups are needed from Arsenal and Manchester City to stand a chance but neither look ready to stumble.
But the Reds have certainly tripped up. That’s eight points dropped in just over a fortnight. This game might be seen as the end of their bid but their fall had already begun against Manchester United and Crystal Palace.
The Everton fans were loving it. Not only did this win move them one victory from being mathematically safe, they also got the added bonus landing a huge blow to their nearest rivals. They’ve only won once against them in 14 years and that was at an empty Anfield during Covid times.
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Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored here for their first home win over their neighbours since 2010. The scorer of the second that night? Mikel Arteta. The Arsenal boss may have enjoyed this one as much.
Everton outfought and outworked Liverpool almost everywhere on the pitch. They targeted them at set pieces and they got their reward. Everton are in the battle to stay up so you would expect them to put up a fight but Liverpool going for the title should have been more up for a scrap.
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Jarrad Branthwaite set Everton on their way to victory (Getty Images)Toffees boss Sean Dyche should have started wearing the tracksuit ages ago. It’s two wins in two with the casual attire. This was exactly the final Merseyside derby Klopp didn’t want. It was frantic and foul-filled. Most of them by his side in the first half hour.
It was the eighth one and the sixth near the area which gave Everton what was a worthy lead in the 27th minute. Alisson poorly dealt with a low strike from Branthwaite as he scampered across goal and it squeezed in off the post.
The Kop keeper had earlier denied Calvert-Lewin from a header with a parried stop but he was poor for the goal.
Klopp was animated on the touchline as he tried to orchestrate his side back into it.
They had chances at the end of the half but Jordan Pickford thwarted Darwin Nunez twice and Mo Salah scooped one over. Everton knew a third win in four games would move them eight clear of the bottom three with four games to go. Liverpool knew defeat would almost spell the end of their title hopes.
So the second in the 58th minute was huge at both ends of the table. Dwight McNeil tested Alisson with a long range effort that the Brazilian had to push over.
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool were unable to get the derby result they needed (Getty Images)From the resulting corner from the man who won it, came the Calvert-Lewin second as he rose at the back post and headed in amid awful defending from Liverpool. Goodison couldn’t settle despite the lead. Luis Diaz hit the post for the Reds but a raft of changes from Klopp couldn’t inspire a Kop comeback.
One of those subs was Harvey Elliott and he tried a long-range effort. But the brilliant Pickford tipped it over and finally the Toffees fans could enjoy a home win in the Merseyside derby for the first time in 14 years as they began to give Klopp a tune to remember them by.
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