Liverpool have recorded a much-needed 2-0 victory against local rivals Everton in the second Merseyside derby of the Premier League season this evening.
Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo got the goals for a rejuvenated Liverpool side, with the former ending his goal drought and the latter getting his first for the club he joined in January.
The Reds have now moved up to ninth in the table, nine points shy of the Champions League places, and Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that tonight's result can be used to kickstart his side's season.
Coming into the game, Klopp's men had failed to score in their last three games in the top flight, but tonight they looked threatening going forward right from the off, with the visitors choosing to sit deep and absorb pressure.
Buoyed on by a lively home crowd, the Reds pressed hard for the opening goal, and Gakpo nearly opened his account for the club with a header from an acrobatic Darwin Nunez cross, but it whistled just past Jordan Pickford's left post.
In typical fashion for a team managed by Sean Dyche, Everton managed to limit their opponents to very few clear-cut opportunities for much of the first half, but the one time they gave their rivals too much space, they were punished.
Just 18 seconds after James Tarkowski agonisingly hit the post with a header from an Alex Iwobi corner, the home side caught their opponents on the break, with Nunez racing down the left wing before picking out Salah, who fired his fifth Merseyside derby goal past a wrong-footed and out-of-position Pickford.
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Salah is, of course, a familiar name to see on the scoresheet, but Gakpo also managed to get in on the act early in the second half, slotting home his first goal in a Liverpool shirt after getting on the end of a perfect ball from the ever-threatening Trent Alexander-Arnold.
In order to try and rectify the two-goal deficit, Dyche brought Demarai Gray on for Ellis Simms on the hour mark, but in truth the substitution had little effect, with Liverpool continuing to control the game, limiting their opponents to just one shot on target throughout the second half.
Everton did manage to craft a very good opportunity to pull a goal back when Iwobi delivered a brilliant ball to second-half substitute Tom Davies at the back post, but the midfielder headed well over the bar, when he really should have done much better.
With the Blues willing to commit more men forward in the closing stages of the game, their opponents were able to threaten on the counter, with Stefan Bajcetic driving the ball forward brilliantly before picking out Salah, whose effort was blocked by Tarkowski.
Tensions threatened to boil over after an altercation between Andrew Robertson and Pickford in the closing stages of the game, which saw both players booked, but from an Everton perspective the game rather fizzled out, and they remain 18th in the Premier League table.
Liverpool have already had some false dawns this season, but a comfortable victory in such an important match will surely give them a boost for their tricky upcoming fixtures, with tough tests against Newcastle United and Real Madrid now on the horizon.
Dominic Lund
