Liverpool v Everton: Merseyside Derby Preview

The 178th Merseyside derby takes place at Anfield today at 4pm and both teams know a win is vital in their quest to secure 4th spot and with it entry to the Champions League.

Home side Liverpool have no new injury worries after a midweek of International friendlies but they will be without Javier Mascherano following his red card at Old Trafford last Sunday. That means that Fernando Torres will lead the line and possibly Dirk Kuyt will be in support as the reds look for a win that will take them 5 points clear of their local rivals.

Outwith last week’s capitulation to Man Utd, Liverpool had been on great form, having won 7 on the spin. They’ll be hoping to bounce back today and extend their recent good run in this fixture. They’ve lost just 2 of the last 16 derbies and Everton haven’t left Anield with 3 points since a Kevin Campbell strike gave them a 1-0 win in 1999.

Andrew Johnson is a doubt for the Toffees but I think the loss of Tim Cahill will be a bigger blow, not just for today but the rest of their campaign. It’s no coincidence that Everton’s improvement in form coincided with Cahill’s return to first team action several months ago. He’s now likely to be out for the rest of the season and they will sorely miss his drive from midfield as well as his unquestionable goal-scoring threat.

David Moyes has never won at Anfield and without the influential Cahill I can’t se him picking up his first victory there today. I expect Liverpool to win this one quite comfortably and for Torres to maintain his incredible scoring run – he’s scored in 12 of Livepool’s 16 home games this season.

The 5/6 (PartyBets) on offer for the home win is a bit on the skinny side so it might pay to look elsewhere for value. For Liverpool to be in the lead at half-time it’s 7/5 (Bet365, Centrebet, Paddy Power, PartyBets) and that has it’s appeal.

On the goalscoring front, Torres is 4/1 (BetDirect, Stan James) to open the scoring but a better bet would be to take the 6/5 (Coral) on him scoring anytime during the match.

It could be an entertaining match – I think the Liverpool team owe their fans something after last week’s result and so given that Over 2.5 is the right side of evens, at 23/20 (Bet365) it could be worth a small investment.

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