By Simon Wilkes
Liverpool manager Arne Slot says his players are feeling ‘refreshed’ ahead of the 246th Merseyside derby at Anfield on Wednesday, while David Moyes knows Everton have a ‘game on our hands’.
The last match between the two rivals ended in a dramatic 2-2 draw at Goodison Park in February, and both teams enter this fixture on the back of an international break.
That break allowed Liverpool to lick their wounds and recover from a difficult week that saw them exit the Champions League to Paris Saint-Germain before losing the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle United at Wembley.
Mind the gap
Liverpool continue to sit pretty in the Premier League, however, having established a nine-point lead over second-placed Arsenal, who closed the gap after beating Fulham 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Slot told a press conference: “If I look at the PSG game, I don’t think, in the eight or nine months I’ve been in the job, I saw my players work as hard as they did for 120 minutes.
“Maybe that was also the reason why we looked tired in the [Carabao Cup] final, but maybe I don’t give the right credit to Newcastle, who made it difficult for us.
“They [Liverpool players] are maybe a bit more refreshed than in a normal international break because we didn’t play at the weekend.
“Most of them had a few days off as well. For the first time in months they had three, four, five days off, so that is maybe the reason why I use the word ‘refreshed’.”
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On the record
Toffees boss Moyes, meanwhile, is desperate to improve on an awful record at Anfield.
The Scot has steered Everton clear of relegation trouble since returning to the club to replace the sacked Sean Dyche, but he is still seeking a first win at Anfield, having failed in 21 attempts while manager of Everton, Manchester United, Sunderland, and West Ham.
Moyes admitted to the press: “I want to win and I want to make sure I get rid of it [the winless record] if I can.
“Am I sick of it? I would be lying if I said I look forward to going to [Anfield] all the time, because it has been such a hard place to get results.
“It’s nothing to do with the surroundings, nothing to do with the pitch, nothing to do with anything else – it is to do with them always producing good teams.
“I think every team in the Premier League, when they go to Anfield, has a game on their hands.
“It would be huge for us as a club to get that, because it is not something the club have done particularly often.”
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