English Premier
2025-09-20 - Liverpool vs Everton
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 20th September 2025 - Kick Off 12:30pm
This game is live on TV
Liverpool
Late goals are a sign of Champions, especially when they turn results as much as the Liverpool goals are doing, but Arne Slot and his squad would much prefer to win games without needing to push so hard until the end. Ultimately it is an unsustainable approach to success, although the worry for the Liverpool rivals is that there is almost certainly better to come from the current English Champions.
Making matters worse, the relatively low-key performances have not prevented Liverpool from being the only team in the Premier League holding a perfect record after four games. Another late goal during the week saw Liverpool begin their Champions League campaign with a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid and The Reds are back at Anfield where they have a 2-0-0 record in the Premier League having scored 5 goals and conceded 2.
Liverpool have won their last 5 games played this season in all competitions since losing the Community Shield on Penalties to Crystal Palace. They had secured back to back clean sheets before blowing the 2-0 lead over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, but Liverpool have made it a habit to score late goals and Virgil Van Dijk headed in another injury time winner for Arne Slot's men.
Curtis Jones is expected to miss the first Merseyside derby of the season. The manager may choose to give Hugo Ekitike the start in place of Alexander Isak, who is still building up to full fitness, while Milos Kerkez and Alexis Mac Allister are others hoping to return to the starting eleven. Jeremie Frimpong is back and has been used from the bench in the start two games and is another that could be restored to the first team.
Everton
His time with Manchester United over a decade ago may have ended in failure, but David Moyes has more than rebuilt his reputation in the years since then. Being back at Everton as they move into their new Stadium has not dimmed Moyes' ambitions and he has openly spoken about this being a Football Club that should be challenging for European Football.
After an opening weekend setback, Everton have been playing with plenty of confidence over the last few weeks and 7 points secured has them entering the first Merseyside derby of the season in 6th place in the Premier League standings. The Toffees bring in a 1-0-1 away record into this short trip to Anfield and Everton have scored and conceded 3 goals in those matches.
Everton have lost 1 of their last 9 games in all competitions and they are unbeaten in 4, which should mean a confident squad being prepared this week. They were held to a goalless draw by Aston Villa last Saturday and Everton's sole defeat was in a 1-0 defeat at Elland Road, but the side did score three goals in winning 2-3 at Wolves in the last away game played.
Vitalii Mykolenko could be involved this weekend, but Jarrad Branthwaite may yet miss the next few games ahead of the October international break.
Head to Head
Liverpool took four points from the two Merseyside derbies played in the Premier League last season.
It was the late Diogo Jota who scored the winning goal at Anfield in April and so he will not be far from the minds of the players or the fans.
Everton won at Anfield in February 2021 during a period where the fans were not able to attend matches after the Covid pandemic, but they have since lost 4 in a row at the home of their fierce rivals.
Prediction
They will still be the favourites to retain the Premier League title that was won last season and Liverpool will have taken plenty of confidence from the late winners they have found in all of their last 5 matches played.
However, this is a team that is not firing at their very best and that makes it quite hard to make selections from the games being played.
One positive for Arne Slot is that his team are creating a lot of chances over the last week and the attacking talent available to him from the start and off the substitute bench will always make the manager believe.
Liverpool had produced back to back clean sheets before the 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid during the week and there will be some real encouragement in the underlying numbers produced over the last three games either side of the September international break.
Earlier in the season Liverpool had looked really vulnerable defensively, but they have largely been able to contain Arsenal, Burnley and Atletico Madrid. A deflected goal earned the Spanish La Liga club an equaliser on Wednesday, but the quality of chances combined by those three clubs have not been particularly good.
You have to like how Everton have performed over the last three games, but there are still some questions in the forward areas.
David Moyes will know his team deserved more against Aston Villa, but they were fortunate against Brighton and the manager is not expected to be asking his team to get on the front foot in this one. Everton will want to make things tight and difficult for Liverpool and try and frustrate them, while also being the fresher team having not had any football to play during the week.
At that point they could counter with the likes of Jack Grealish leading the way, but it is a tough balance to strike and Everton will naturally get a little deeper the longer they are level.
Defensive numbers from Everton have not been nearly as strong as 2 clean sheets in 4 Premier League games would suggest and it feels like a tall task to expect them to be the first League club to prevent Liverpool scoring in twelve months. That is especially the case with the attacking talent that Liverpool have and with the added threat from set pieces and so the real question is whether Everton can actually score at Anfield for the first time since February 2021.
They were poor at Leeds United on the opening weekend, but Everton have been looking a little more comfortable going forward having blooded in some of the new recruits.
David Moyes will feel his team can cause problems from set pieces and there is some pace on the counter attack that can exploit spaces left behind by the hosts.
However, Liverpool may just have enough to keep Everton at arm's length and they look a big price to win this one with a clean sheet. The last 2 Premier League wins have been by 1-0 scores and that was the case when Everton last visited Anfield, while it should also be noted that the last 4 Liverpool home wins over their Merseyside rivals have been with clean sheets too.
For all of the early encouragement, Everton have failed to score in half of the Premier League games played and backing the hosts to keep things clean at the back in a winning effort looks the best approach to take in this early kickoff.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Liverpool 2-0 Everton
