Tomorrow night brings a Merseyside derby, on paper at least, which projects to be as lopsided as the series has ever seen. Visiting Liverpool enter match day 15 having dropped just two points of a possible 42 this season. They’re running away with the league lead.
The hosts, Everton, are at the other end of the spectrum, sitting just two points above the final relegation position. It appears that Toffees manager Marco Silva could be on the brink of getting sacked. The Reds are most certainly a very complete team, but their best player is central defender Virgil van Dijk.
Van Dijk came oh so close to ending the Ballon d’Or duopoly dominance by strikers and attacking midfielders. He finished second in the voting to Lionel Messi, who claimed the award for the sixth time.
“You need to respect greatness. I was close, but there was just someone a little bit better,” van Dijk said to Liverpool’s official website yesterday.
“I’m very proud of what I achieved last year, with Liverpool and Holland. Hopefully we can do it again this year. I never thought I would be up for a Ballon d’Or until I was actually nominated. It says a lot about how my career has been, it has never been easy. I came late but I never gave up on my dreams.”
“I had to work very hard every step of the way.
“Where I am right now is something I’m very proud of. To be here makes me very proud and makes me want to work even harder and hopefully be here next year again.”
Maybe next year? In turning to the team news for this one, Everton could get Fabian Delph and Theo Walcott back for this one. They will also be without the services of Andre Gomes, Cuco Martina, Jean-Philipp Gbamin and Seamus Coleman.
The table toppers will be without long term absentees Joel Matip, Nathaniel Clyne and Fabinho. No. 1 Alisson will miss the derby due to suspension.
Liverpool vs Everton, Merseyside Derby FYIs
Liverpool Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Kickoff: Goodison Park, Wednesday December 4th, 8:15 pm
Google Result Probability: Liverpool win 68%, Draw 20%, Everton win 12%
Form Guide: Liverpool WWWWW Everton LLWDL
Prediction: Liverpool 3, Everton 0
This one should not be close to at all.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.