Premier League champions Liverpool are looking to bounce back from their humbling 7-2 loss to Aston Villa, while their local rivals Everton are top of the points table with maximum points from four games. (More Football News)
Everton are winless in 19 Premier League meetings with Liverpool, with their last victory coming in October 2010. The winless run extends to 22 derbies across all competitions. And Saturday's game will be exactly 10 years to the day from when Everton last won a Premier League derby.
Playing XIs confirmed
Everton:
Pickford, Coleman, Mina, Keane, Digne, Doucoure, Allan, Andre Gomes, Rodriguez, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison.
Subs: Delph, Sigurdsson, Iwobi, Bernard, Godfrey, Davies, Olsen.
Advertisement
Liverpool:
Adrian, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago, Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Subs: Wijnaldum, Milner, Gomez, Jones, Minamino, Jota, Kelleher.
If Liverpool avoid defeat they will set a new club record of 23 games unbeaten against the same opponent in all competitions. They set their previous best of 22 matches without a loss between September 19, 1981 and March 8, 1992… against Villa. And, Everton have only endured a longer winless streak across 24 encounters with Chelsea, from May 5, 2001 to December 12, 2009.
Match and telecast details
Match: Premier League match between Everton vs Liverpool
Date: October 17 (Saturday), 2020
Time: 17:00 PM IST
Venue: Goodison Park, Liverpool
TV Listing: Star Sports Select HD2, Star Sports Select 2
Live Streaming: Hotstar VIP
Advertisement
That's the gist of the story as Jurgen Ancelotti and Jurgen Klopp get ready for a mouth-watering clash at Goodison Park. By the way, this fixture -- Merseyside derby -- is one of the oldest rivalries in the world. Points do hold importance, but there's a lot to play for.
On the eve of the match, Klopp revealed that Naby Keita has been ruled out, but Thiago Alcantara and Sadio Mane are available. Both Alcantara and Mane had tested positive for coronavirus prior to the international break.
"Naby will not be ready," said Klopp. "Long-term of course, Oxlade-Chamberlain is not ready – but apart from that they all came back healthy from the internationals."
On Thiago and Mane recovering from COVID-19, Klopp added: "We all learn on a daily basis about it. They are in training for five or six days [now].
"Then, of course, we assess that every day. We have our specific measurements, how we do it with heart rate and how we can measure if they are more fatigued than usual and stuff like this."
For Everton, deadline-day signing Ben Godfrey could feature in the high profile match. "Godfrey is a really talented player,” Ancelotti told EvertonTV. "He is really fast, very quick. He has different characteristics from the centre-backs we have in this moment."
