Everton roll back the years with Anfield victory

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  • 2021-02-21 HKT 03:44″ title=”Liverpool’s Alisson narrowly fails to get his fingertips to a Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty as Everton seal their first victory at Anfield this century. Photo: Reuters”>


    Liverpool's Alisson narrowly fails to get his fingertips to a Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty as Everton seal their first victory at Anfield this century. Photo: Reuters
    Liverpool’s Alisson narrowly fails to get his fingertips to a Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty as Everton seal their first victory at Anfield this century. Photo: Reuters

Everton earned their first win at Liverpool since 1999 as the troubled Premier League champions crashed to a 2-0 defeat in the Merseyside derby, while Chelsea’s revival under Thomas Tuchel stalled in a 1-1 draw against Southampton on Saturday.

Richarlison gave Carlo Ancelotti’s side the perfect start with his third minute strike. Gylfi Sigurdsson’s late penalty sealed Everton’s first triumph at Anfield in the 21st century.

Having dominated their Anfield clashes with Everton for the last 22 years, Liverpool finished a home derby empty-handed for the first time since Kevin Campbell’s winner for the Toffees.

It was also Everton’s first victory against their hated neighbours in any venue in 24 matches in all competitions dating back to 2010.

Jurgen Klopp’s team have suffered four successive league defeats and a run of just two wins in their last 11 games in the competition has left them in grave danger of missing out on a top four finish.

The sting from defeat in the 238th Merseyside derby will linger even longer given it was a bad tackle from Everton keeper Jordan Pickford in their meeting earlier this season that left Virgil van Dijk sidelined ever since with a serious knee injury.

Without the influential Dutch centre-back, Liverpool have endured a wretched time and their defensive flaws were exposed by Everton after just 145 seconds.

A weak headed Ozan Kabak clearance fell to James Rodriguez, who slipped in a pass behind the on-loan Schalke centre-back and Richarlison ran on to fire an angled drive past Alisson Becker.

Liverpool applied all the pressure in the second half but they were hit with a sucker punch seven minutes from time when Dominic Calvert-Lewin was brought down by Trent Alexander-Arnold. Sigurdsson stroked home the penalty.

Everton are now level on points with Liverpool and have a game in hand on their rivals.

Meanwhile, Tuchel remains unbeaten in seven games since replacing the sacked Frank Lampard last month.

On-loan Liverpool midfielder Takumi Minamino did his parent club a favour by opening the scoring with a cool finish after sitting down Edouard Mendy and Cesar Azpilicueta on 33 minutes.

Tuchel sent on Callum Hudson-Odoi for the second-half but was less than impressed with the England international as he was replaced just 21 minutes later by Hakim Ziyech.

By that point the visitors were level as Mason Mount converted from the penalty spot after he had been chopped down by Danny Ings.

Burnley were held to a 0-0 draw by 10-man West Bromwich Albion, who had Semi Ajayi sent off after 30 minutes for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity with a deliberate handball.

Ademola Lookman’s second-half goal earned Fulham a precious 1-0 victory over bottom club Sheffield United to edge them closer to escaping the Premier League relegation zone. (AFP/RTHK)
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Last updated: 2021-01-21 HKT 06:19