Dirk Kuyt's 50th Liverpool goal made sure bragging rights belong to the red half of the city this season as the Reds produced an excellent performance with ten men to beat Everton 1-0.
Alberto Aquilani had admitted before the game that he was still in pain following his return from long term injury, so it was no surprise to see Lucas and Mascherano start in midfield. Maxi Rodriguez came in on the left wing in place of Albert Riera, and Daniel Agger also returned to the starting XI – replacing Martin Skrtel at centre back.
Merseyside derbies are usually full-blooded affairs, and this game proved to be no exception. Jamie Carragher set the tone with a crunching tackle on Steven Pienaar early on that was met with a roar of approval from the Kop.
Pienaar himself was lucky to stay on the pitch when he came in with a high foot on Javier Mascherano, a tackle that could have easily broken the Argentine's leg. Referee Martin Atkinson appeared to have a clear view of the incident but felt the foul only warranted a booking.
Atkinson then enraged the Anfield faithful by sending off Sotirios Kyrgiakos. On reflection the Greek defender's two footed challenge was a red card offence, but it left a bitter taste in the mouth following Pienaar's let-off.
The injustice seemed to inspire Liverpool though, and if anything they looked like they were a man up rather than a man down following the dismissal, as they held on to possession comfortably. Neither team had looke particularly like scoring up until that point & the rest of the first half continued in the same fashion, but the Reds were definitely in the ascendency.
The second half started off as the first had ended, with Liverpool in control. Their dominance was rewarded on 54 minutes when Kuyt nodded in from a superb Steven Gerrard corner.
The Dutchman was being pulled this way and that by Tim Howard and Phil Neville as Gerrard supplied a pinpoint ball into the danger zone, and he did very well to stay on his feet to ensure Liverpool took the lead, to the delight of a packed Anfield.
The Reds didn't look content to defend the one goal lead though, and continued to attack. Substitute Ryan Babel possibly had the best chance to double the score when he broke free of the Everton defence, but was wrongly adjudged offside.
The Toffees for their part just didn't seem to offer any real attacking threat despite their numerical advantage, and their misery was added to when Pienaar finally was sent off for a second bookable offence in injury time.
Minutes later the final whistle blew to confirm a massive win for Liverpool. That makes it 17 points from 21 now, great form to be carrying into crunch matches with Arsenal and Manchester City.
Your Comments:
KopThat! - February 9th 2010.
Great performance! Great derby win, and a great derby weekend as a whole with Arsenal, Spurs, Villa and City all dropping points!
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