Merseyside's face-off for a £15m prize

The derby at Goodison this afternoon may decide which of Liverpool's two clubs reaches the Champions' League

David Moyes arrived at Bellefield with boxes of Easter eggs for the press, which is something of a tradition for the Everton manager. Less than half a mile away at Melwood, his Liverpool counterpart, Gérard Houllier, remarked that Everton had used the last Merseyside derby at Anfield in December to give themselves "a present of being above us over Christmas". This time, he stated, it would be Liverpool's turn to receive gifts.

Games between Liverpool and Everton have always been categorised, sometimes wrongly, as "the friendly derby", although the author Phil Redmond once acidly remarked: "Forget about the blue flags in the Kop nonsense. We bloody hate them." This time, there will be much more of an edge. Recent Merseyside derbies have been seen at Goodison as an attempt, usually forlorn, to put a spoke through the wheels of the Anfield bandwagon – and even then they have seldom succeeded.

It is more than five years since they won at Goodison and it says something that, of the 22 who started Everton's last victory there in October 1997, there is not a single survivor in either team. It was, incidentally, a dim light in a very bleak season; one remembered as the campaign which ended with Everton avoiding relegation only on goal difference.

This time, however, there is some £15m rather than pride at stake. Whoever wins this afternoon is likely to knock the other out of the race for the fourth and final Champions' League place, although this is a contest which is still likely to be won by Chelsea.

Both teams need the money. Everton have for years been weighed down by debt. In 1997 they could still pretend to be one of the Premiership's big five, boasting the fifth-highest attendance, the eighth-biggest turnover and even declaring a profit of £3m. Three years later, the were declaring a trading loss of £3m, an overdraft of £17m.

Now a 25-year £60m securitisation loan (based against future season-ticket sales) has stabilised matters. It is a similar kind of deal to the one that Leeds United proved ultimately unable to service, although, unlike at Elland Road, Everton did not spend it within nine weeks.

Unlike their neighbours, Liverpool's budget, which sustains one of the highest wage bills in the Premiership, demands that they compete in the Champions' League. The club is already preparing a similar securitisation loan to Everton's, for £75m to finance a new stadium in Stanley Park. Repaying it will cost the club £5m a year for the next quarter of a century, although increased capacity should offset this. Plans for Everton's new stadium, the so-called Goodison on the Water, is dead in the water, although, against the odds, they managed to raise their share of the finances.

"There is no point pretending failure to reach the Champions' League won't have an impact," Liverpool's chief executive, Rick Parry, said this week. "We've said ever since we put our plans together three years ago [after a £20m investment by Granada], that it was about getting into the Champions' League and staying there. It is not about being in once or twice and then dropping out. What is important is for us to be a regular participant."

Both sides will require cool nerves. Liverpool, who usually excel at this battered stage of the season have an easier run-in, although they finish their campaign at Stamford Bridge, where they have suffered appallingly in recent seasons. When Moyes looked at Everton's fixture list which ended with games against Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea and, last of all, Manchester United, he said: "I thought it might be an Ipswich situation," referring to the Eiger-like wall of matches which relegated George Burley's side. "Now these games actually suit us because were are that motivated."

It could be argued that the most important result of Houllier's time on Merseyside was the 3-2 victory at Goodison in the Merseyside derby two Easters ago. Liverpool had already won the Worthington Cup, but had been beaten by Leeds, their closest rivals for the final Champions' League spot, in the Good Friday fixture at Anfield; when in the 94th minute Gary McAllister somehow squeezed a 40-yard free-kick past Paul Gerrard. It provided the momentum not only for the Uefa and FA Cup triumphs but to overhaul Leeds by a point. Houllier concedes something similar is required this time.

As he distributed his eggs, Moyes was looking, cold-eyed, ahead, surveying the future. "This is only the start of what I see as years ahead for Everton to be competing at this level year-in, year-out," he said.

Last May there were 37 points separating the two clubs – a chasm, not a gap. Moyes conceded that, in August, challenging Liverpool was not on his agenda. "Liverpool were not in our division. Everyone talks about the Premiership being divided into three separate leagues and we weren't in Liverpool's, but the players have kept producing when everyone thought they would blow up. Now, with five games to go, it looks like we're going to see it through.

Neither Houllier nor Moyes stated that finishing above the other was a big goal. "My target is to finish fourth and to make the Champions' League," Houllier said. "If Everton finish third and we are fourth, that is not an issue."

For Moyes, you sense it is more problematic. Everton did not expect the Uefa Cup, let alone the Champions' League, and to overturn an Anfield supremacy which has reigned unaltered for 16 years would be an achievement in itself. "Their dominance won't go on forever," said Moyes of Liverpool. "We are now competing against Liverpool and enter the derby in front of them but finishing above Liverpool is not the bigger picture, it's the smaller one."