The Merseyside derby is set for Saturday as sixth-place Liverpool welcome seventh-place Everton in a massive Premier League battle as both look to boost their chances of a top-four finish. The Reds are on a three game losing streak in the league, while Carlo Ancelotti's side have just one win in their last five league encounters.
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Here's how you can watch the match and what to know:
Viewing information Date: Saturday, Feb. 20 | Time: 12:30 p.m. ET Location: Anfield -- Liverpool, United Kingdom TV: NBC | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free) Odds: Liverpool -210; Draw +340; Everton +575 (via William Hill Sportsbook)
Storylines
Liverpool: While their form in the league has been horrific, they really bounced back on Tuesday with the 2-0 victory against RB Leipzig in the Champions League. The pairing of Jordan Henderson and Ozan Kabak was much improved from the game against Leicester City just days prior, while goalkeeper Alisson was also on his game. They'll hope that form and confidence at the back will continue, but Everton's ability in the air and speed could cause them some troubles. They will once again need a clean performance at the back to take the three points.
Everton: The start to the season was promising, and they enter the weekend just five points back of the top four, but some consistency is needed. The defense has struggled with 11 goals conceded in their last five league games, and there was that FA Cup game on Feb. 10 where they won despite conceding four goals to Spurs. A lot of rotation at the back hasn't helped, but when playing together they can beat anybody. Expect the Toffees to prioritize defense against Liverpool's speed, but they will have to be cautious to not give up too many dangerous set pieces for which the Reds could really capitalize.
This is where Liverpool come roaring back to form, isn't it?
They threatened it last weekend in the first 70 minutes against Leicester but hit the implosion button as individual mistakes cost them points yet again. Liverpool have made the most errors leading to goals (8) this season and rank second for most errors leading to shots (13). I still believe the process of this Liverpool team remains strong but it's a case of errors and a significant drop in conversion rate to blame for a quite horrendous run of results.
Talking of conversion rate, Everton have the best shot conversion rate (15.56 per cent) in the Premier League and the third best shooting accuracy (53.4 per cent). This explains how they've managed to get on the coattails of Liverpool despite just a goal difference of +2 this season.
That statistic can be looked at two ways, but I'm very much happy to file it under the unsustainable category. Liverpool should have too much firepower with Everton close to running on empty having been tasked with playing four games in 10 days.
This is officially the dirtiest fixture in Premier League history, with 22 red cards in 57 Premier League meetings and there might be significant needle even without fans considering the prolonged fallout from Jordan Pickford's challenge on Virgil van Dijk in a spicy 2-2 draw at Goodison Park. A sending off is 4/1 with Sky Bet if that floats your boat.
I was interested in attacking the booking points lines as Liverpool have picked up 17 cards in their last nine games - a big upturn from their usual numbers. In comparison, before that they had received just 12 cards in 19 games. However, Sky Bet are on the ball with three or more Liverpool bookings only a 3/1 shot so I'd rather back their most persistent foul merchant to pick up a card.
Thiago will be charging around in usual reckless fashion in midfield, especially in a derby. No player has made more fouls than him in 2021 in the Premier League (22) and at 100/30 he looks a nice spot of value to be carded for the fourth time this year.