Steve Gerrard celebrated his 400th Premier League game with a performance for the ages. His three goals mark the first hat-trick in this match-up since Ian Rush did it 30 years ago.
Everton lacked the cutting edge to deal with the Reds, who were clearly fired up for this contest. Gerrard demanded his teammates show improvement after Saturday’s loss, and he personally showed them the way — as he always does, according to Damien Comolli.
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93rd minute, 3-0 Liverpool: Gerrard and Suarez work the counter-attack to consign Everton to a derby drubbing.
Gerrard drove through the midfield alongside Suarez and laid it off to the Uruguayan on his left. Suarez cut it back and played it back to Gerrard, who thumbed it past a helpless Howard.
88th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: LFC has been comfortable letting Everton have the possession advantage, sitting deep and looking to hit back on the counter.
Even Carroll’s dropped back into the midfield. He’s been clearing any aerial threats out of the box. It’s a text-book way of closing out a game.
84th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Drenthe sees yellow for a late challenge on Downing.
81st minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Play has stopped for a minute, as Pienaar lay writing on the ground.
He and Gerrard jumped for a ball in the air, and the LFC captain caught him with an elbow to the head.
77th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Everton’s substitutes have added a bit of quality and purpose to its approach play. But their (players’) ideas seem to fail them when it comes down to supplying that final ball or shooting for goal.
Where’s Landon Donovan when you need him?
72nd minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Kuyt is coming into the game in place of Henderson.
He should provide a little more width on the right, as well as helping LFC keep the ball a little better than it has over the last five minutes or so.
70th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Everton has stayed in this one, but LFC remains dangerous as ever.
Carroll’s feed sent Suarez into the box all alone, but his shot went well wide off the far post.
62nd minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Moyes is sending on the cavalry. Drenthe, Osman and Jelavic enter the fray.
61st minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Everton doesn’t look like it’ll go down without a fight. Rodwell and Pienaar combine to nearly cut the lead in half, but the young Evertonian’s shot is intercepted at the far post by a sliding Enrique.
55th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Kelly and Suarez have had chances to put LFC further ahead.
Suarez pulled his shot just wide, while Kelly nearly connected with Enrique’s inch-perfect cross right in front of goal.
51st minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Henderson, Suarez and Gerrard combine to double the LFC lead.
Henderson drove forward, and sent Suarez in deep with a through-ball. The Uruguayan beat Distin on the goal-line and cut in toward goal before laying it off for an onrushing Gerrard.
The LFC captain powered it home, leaving no doubt about it.
46th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Neither team made any changes at halftime, and the second half is under way.
Halftime,1-0 Liverpool: An utterly pulsating first half comes to a close, with LFC leading its neighbors by a goal.
The Reds advantage is a just reward for controlling play and creating the better chances throughout the half.
They look like they’ve shaken off the malaise that hampered them on Saturday, and are playing with purpose and invention.
Everton hasn’t been overrun either. The Toffees have done a decent job of defending their rampant hosts. They’ve also picked their spots to go at the Reds when they commit men forward, and scoring a goal is not out of the question.
If the second half is anything like the first, this will go down as one of the games of the season.
38th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Kelly gets forward, loses his marker and tests Howard again. This time his shot goes just wide of the far post.
When he goes forward, it gives Pienaar something to think about (other than attacking).
34th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Gerrard gives LFC the lead with a delightful first-time lob over Howard and the Everton defenders.
The move started when Howard kick-saved Kelly’s shot, but couldn’t control the rebound.
A defender tried to clear it but it deflected off of Kelly into the path of the LFC captain.
He chipped over Howard from 18 yards out to give his team the lead.
30th minute, 0-0: The Toffees are starting to come to life in this one.
They’ve managed to create two or three corner kicks — that LFC has dealt with — in the last few minutes.
They were thoroughly outplayed for the first half hour, but they’ve settled into a rhythmn of their own. There still doesn’t seem to be a threat from their strikers.
Anichibe hasn’t had a shot, and Stracqualursi’s name hasn’t been misspelled once.
25th minute, 0-0: When Everton does get the ball in the LFC third, it usually looks to attack through Pienaar down the left side.
He’s a bit quicker, and much more experienced, than Kelly. But it’s a long way from being a “mismatch.”
23rd minute, 0-0: The game has settled down a bit in the lsat few minutes.
Liverpool is controlling the play, but Everton has kept its shape and dealt with the LFC approach play well.
16th minute, 0-0: Everton creates some danger of its own. Spearing was dispossessed in the midfield by Fellaini, and he broke toward goal with Pienaar and Anichebe.
The trio were not able to make anything of it, as Pienaar held onto it for too long.
The Reds were able to recover, get men behind the ball and eliminate the threat.
12th minute, 0-0: Suarez manages to ghost in behind Distin and test Howard with a sliding shot.
The Everton goalkeeper was able to turn it away.
Credit to Carroll for creating the opportunity for his strike partner. It was his flick-on header that sent Suarez in on goal.
10th minute, 0-0: LFC has the possession advantage (as usual), but the visitors have taken a safety-first approach.
Ninth minute, 0-0: Pienaar wastes Baines’ good work down the left with a shot that goes miles deep into the Kop.
Seventh minute, 0-0: Gerrard nearly puts LFC ahead, but Howard makes a sprawling save.
Henderson came in with a follow-up shot, but Rodwell’s sliding intervention denied him his second league goal for LFC.
Third minute, 0-0: The game’s off to a fast start, but both teams have struggled to link up and create any chances of substance.
Pregame: Carroll, Carragher and Downing return to the starting 11, after watching most of Saturday’s loss to Sunderland.
Adam heads to the bench, with Gerrard taking up residence in the midfield next to Spearing.
Suarez and Carroll will lead the front line, and rely on Gerrard, Downing and a slowly-improving Henderson for service.
For Everton, the big surprise is Anichebe getting a rare start up front. He hasn’t played since the Feb. 4 draw at Wigan (where he scored).
Stracqualursi will start alongside him, and it’s more than likely the spelling of his name will be butchered in this space before, during and after the game. We send our apologies in advance.
The rest of Everton’s team is settled and looks familiar.
3:30 p.m.: Here are the lineups:
Liverpool
Pepe Reina (25), goalkeeper
Martin Kelly (34), right back
Martin Skrtel (37), center back
Jamie Carragher (23), center back
Jose Enrique (3), left back
Jordan Henderson (14), midfielder
Jay Spearing (20), midfielder
Steve Gerrard (8), midfielder
Stuart Downing (19), midfielder
Luis Suarez (7), forward
Andy Carroll (9), striker
Substitutes
Doni (32), goalkeeper
Sebastian Coates (16), defender
Jon Flanagan (38), defender
Charlie Adam (26), midfielder
Jonjo Shelvey (33), midfielder
Maxi (11), forward
Dirk Kuyt (18), forward
Everton
Tim Howard (24), goalkeeper
Tony Hibbert (2), right back
Phil Jagielka (6), center back
Silvin Distin (15), center back
Leighton Baines (3), left back
Seamus Coleman (23), midfielder
Jack Rodwell (26), midfielder
Marouane Fellaini (25), midfielder
Steven Pienaar (22), midfieder
Denis Stracqualursi (11), striker
Victor Anichebe (28), striker
Substitutes
Jan Mucha (1), goalkeeper
Johnny Heitinga (5), defender
Phil Neville (18), midfielder
Royston Drenthe (10), midfielder
Leon Osman (21), midfield
Tim Cahill (17), forward
Nikica Jelavic (7), striker
12:00 a.m. ET: What better chance for Liverpool to get back on track than against its closest rival, Everton FC? Anfield will be the site of the latest edition of the Merseyside derby, as the two teams meet in Premier League action.
The Reds will look to put the disappointment of consecutive losses behind them in Tuesday’s game. Form and records matter little when these city rivals meet, and this contest should be no different.
Both teams played on Saturday, so neither can claim an advantage of an extra day’s rest. LFC boss Kenny Dalglish will likely use squad depth to his advantage, giving starts to a number of players who were rested for much of Saturday’s game against Sunderland.
Jamie Carragher, Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll could return to the starting 11. Steve Gerrard recovered from a hamstring problem and played the last 20 minutes against Sunderland. It’s likely that he will start. If he plays at all, it will be the club captain’s 400th Premier League game.
The milestone puts him in select company, as only 24 other players have accomplished the feat in the Premier League era.
Everton is riding the wave of a seven-game unbeaten run. The Toffees downed Tottenham on Saturday, thanks to a strike by January signing Nikica Jelavic. Manager David Moyes will celebrate 10 years in charge of the club on Wednesday, and he’ll look for his team to celebrate by winning at Anfield for the first time under his watch.
Join us at 4 p.m. for Liverpool-Everyton. We’ll have all the action right here.
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