Jurgen Klopp earned his 100th Premier League win with a 5-2 win over Everton in the Merseyside Derby to extend their lead to eight points at the top of the league, while also sending Everton into the bottom three.
Divock Origi who was recalled to the starting line-up scored twice along with,Xherdan Shaqiri, Sadio Mane, Michael Keane and Richarlison in a first half that featured six goals.
Everton who conceded in the final moments on Sunday at Leicester started with the same side and started terribly, conceding twice inside the opening 17 minutes.
The first goal came after Everton lost the ball deep in the Liverpool half. Liverpool broke quickly with Mane, who ran at the Everton defence and played an inch perfect pass in behind Keane for Origi, and with Jordan Pickford off his line, Origi rounded the Everton shot-stopper to roll into an empty net.
The second was almost a carbon copy of the first. A long ball over the top was picked up by Mane, where he ran at the Everton defence and slipped the ball once again in between the Everton defence for Shaqiri, who had run off the right wing, to tap in from close range.
Everton did get themselves back in the game five minutes later, after a short corner was eventually played to Alex Iwobi, who played the ball in behind the Liverpool defence. Keane’s initial shot was blocked by Dejan Lovren, but the Everton defender was quickest to react and prodded in the rebound.
This goal gave Everton a new lease of life and on another day they would’ve had a penalty and Trent Alexander-Arnold would have seen red, but for some reason Mike Dean and VAR decided not to look at the decisions.
The first being a tackle by Richarlison in which TAA looked to have stamped on the Brazilian on his landing, then he went in over the ball and left his studs on the shin of Lucas Digne and was only shown a yellow card.
The penalty shout was very similar to the one that was awarded to Everton two years ago. A ball played through for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who took the ball in his stride and as he entered the area he put his body in front of Virgil van Dijk, and it looked like he had fouled the Everton striker, but referee Mike Dean waved away his protests.
Moments later and it was 3-1. Dejan Lovren played a straight ball over the Everton defence to Origi, the Belgian brought the ball down expertly and with only Pickford to beat, found the back of the net with ease.
This goal prompted Marco Silva into a tactical change, bringing on Bernard for Djibril Sidibe who had been found out of position on more than one occasion, meaning Mason Holgate went to right back and Everton now changed to a 4-4-2.
This tactical change almost worked immediately. Iwobi played the ball out to the right to Richarlison, who played in a delightful ball for Calvert-Lewin and it looked like he was about to pass the ball into the back of the net, but in came Lovren to deny the Everton striker, clearing for a corner.
From that resulting corner, the ball went over everyone and Liverpool again hit Everton on the counter-attack. Alexander-Arnold broke down the left into the space and into the Everton half. With only Tom Davies in his way, he slowed down to allow Sadio Mane to give him support, and that he did. TAA played the ball inside Davies, for Mane and from the edge of the box he passed the ball into the back of the net.
With only moments left of the first half, Everton got another goal. Bernard out on the Everton left picked out Richarlison in the area, who nodded in to make it 4-2.
With Liverpool 4-2 up they slowed down in the second half, allowing Everton to have the ball as they didn’t really test Liverpool defensively. However going into the final 30 minutes, Silva introduced Moise Kean for Calvert-Lewin, and minutes after this substitution Alexander-Arnold who was already on a yellow card and lucky to still be on the pitch handled the ball when Lucas Digne attempted to play the ball down the line, and like the first half, nothing was done.
The game petered out for the rest of the second half until the final ten minutes when Liverpool should have put themselves further ahead with two huge chances through Mane. The first, a long ball over the Everton defence for the Senegal international, but he let himself down when he put the ball wide when inside the area.
His second came after Liverpool broke from an Everton corner. Mane was played through on goal, and with only Pickford to beat, he rounded the keeper, but Pickford managed to put Mane off balance which allowed Holgate to take the ball from the forward before he could make it 5-2.
From that and Everton had the chance to get another goal back and set up a tense finale when Iwobi slid Kean through, who had beaten the offside trap, but his effort was agonisingly close to Adrian’s post.
The game was finally put to bed in the final minute after some fantastic footwork from Roberto Firmino allowed him to escape Holgate inside the area, and when he played the ball back to Georginio Wijnaldum, the Dutchman toe-poked the ball into the far corner to send the Kop into wild celebrations.
