Marco Silva believes Everton’s players have not lost faith in his methods and they can transform their season by going “face-to-face” with Liverpool in pursuit of the club’s first Anfield win in 20 years.
Silva is under intense pressure going into the 234th Merseyside derby, with Everton two points above the relegation zone after seven defeats in their past 10 league games. Liverpool, by stark contrast, are eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, unbeaten at Anfield in 47 league games and equalled a club record of 31 league games unbeaten with victory against Brighton on Saturday.
Liverpool have also lost only one of the past 25 league derbies, none in the past nine years and last tasted an Anfield defeat against Everton in September 1999, when Walter Smith was the visiting manager.
Everton ended Liverpool’s previous run of 31 unbeaten games with a Wayne Clarke goal in March 1988 but Silva believes the performance at Anfield last season – minus the Jordan Pickford/Divock Origi finale in the 96th minute – provides more relevant hope for Wednesday.
“I didn’t know about that fact,” he said of Clarke’s winner. “I know about 20 years without a win and because of that we have to look at the game as a good opportunity and do something the club didn’t do for 20 years. They are in a very good moment and maybe the toughest opponent we can face. At home they are almost unbeaten against everyone who went there. You can look at it this way or the other way – it is a good opportunity for us in a special game. I like the special games and my players and our fans have to like the special games too. I know the derby record in the past did not give us a good feeling but we have to go there and embrace the challenge, to enjoy it.
“If you ask me what is the main thing I want, it is for the players to perform like we did there last season. The result could be different for us if we play like that again. We did almost everything good in last season’s game apart from that last minute but we embraced that game and went face‑to‑face with them. That is the type of performance I want to see from us again.”
David Moyes, who spent 11 years in charge at Everton, has been discussed within the boardroom as a potential replacement for Silva but the current manager cites the display at Leicester on Sunday, where they lost 2-1 after Kelechi Iheanacho’s stoppage-time goal, as evidence the team remains behind him.
“In some moments in the last few months the luck was against us, but it will not always be like that. When you see players working like they did in the last game, the team spirit in a tough moment with that attitude and commitment, it gives you hope that things will change.
“If we had more confidence at the start of the second half on Sunday we score the second and kill the game. But this is the moment we are in and we have to deal with it. Does this moment take from us the belief and the confidence in the way we work? No. They showed to me again at Leicester the commitment and attitude that we need and which can change the results.”
Jürgen Klopp has not lost any of his eight Merseyside derbies and another victory would bring up a century of Premier League wins as Liverpool manager. But Klopp, who will be without his first-choice goalkeeper Alisson through suspension after he handled outside the area against Brighton, believes Liverpool’s derby record does not help his team and serves only to motivate Everton, whose forward Richarlison has signed a new five-year contract despite interest from clubs including Manchester United.
Klopp said: “It helps more the other team to be the first to win in a long time. We never used that before a game, we try to make sure we are in the best possible shape to play the game in the way we can, and you see that with the different games we have played against them that it is a hugely important game for both teams.
“Most of the time [there are] really tight results, late deciders, especially last year. One game [in 2016] we won 4-0 but they got a red card in that game. No, the history we cannot really involve because the history in this case is so positive it does not help.”