Liverpool v Everton live: Arne Slot’s side hold off fightback in Merseyside derby maintain perfect start
Liverpool 2-1 Everton: Arne Slot’s side maintain their 100 per cent start to the Premier League season
Ryan Gravenberch was the star of the show as Liverpool held off an Everton fightback in the Merseyside derby to maintain their 100 per cent start to the Premier League season.
The Dutchman produced a moment of magic to break the deadlock after 10 minutes, running onto Mohamed Salah's bending ball before delightfully half-volleying across Jordan Pickford's goal and into the net - a strike that required significant guile and technique to pull off.
He then turned provider to set up Hugo Ekitike, with the Frenchman calmly slotting past Pickford to vindicate Arne Slot's decision to leave out £125m man Alexander Isak for the derby, who watched Ekitike hit his fourth of the season from the bench.
Everton were able halve the deficit after the break through an emphatic finish from Idrissa Gana Gueye, sparking fears of another surrendered two-goal advantage for Liverpool, but the Reds managed to grit out the victory to make it five wins from five for the league leaders.
Follow live updates from Liverpool v Everton in the Merseyside derby, below
Time to switch over!
Liverpool’s nail-biting Merseyside derby win kicked off the day of Premier League action, but as the 3pm kick-offs finish up, there’s a mammoth clash down the M62 to sink our teeth into.
Follow The Independent’s live coverage of Manchester United’s clash with Chelsea below, which could have huge ramifications on under-fire boss Ruben Amorim’s future:
Man United v Chelsea live: Premier League team news as Garnacho returns
The flagship triumph of Arne Slot’s reign that made the difference for Liverpool on derby day
Never in the history of English football had a team begun with a more expensive double act on the bench. But perhaps Arne Slot, while his irritation at some of the references to Liverpool’s summer spending has been camouflaged by a smile, illustrated his early success came without buying.
As Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz’s initial taste of the Merseyside derby was as substitutes, Liverpool owed victory to Ryan Gravenberch, the first flagship triumph of Slot’s reign, a player who was not purchased for a nine-figure sum by his compatriot but inherited and reinvented.
Gravenberch was the beneficiary when Liverpool didn’t buy, the man who filled the role envisaged for Martin Zubimendi. If Isak was bought to score goals and Wirtz to create them, Everton were defeated as Gravenberch, for the first time in his Liverpool career, did both in the same game, each long before the £225m duo were introduced. In the process, he maintained Liverpool’s 100 per cent start to the campaign and earned them a first win that did not require a late goal.
Richard Jolly’s report from Anfield:
The triumph of Arne Slot’s reign that made the difference for Liverpool on derby day
Ryan Gravenberch makes history
Ryan Gravenberch, at 23 years and 127 days old, is the youngest ever player to both score and assist for Liverpool in a Premier League Merseyside derby.
Quite crazy to think that he only managed a handful of starts at Bayern Munich before Liverpool took a “gamble” on the Dutchman.
Jack Grealish on his 'hostile' derby experience
“It was what I expected, coming here it was hostile, faster,” Grealish told TNT Sports.
“I don't think we played well in the first-half, we came in a half-time and had a chat with the manager and then second half, we lost the game in the second half. Frustrating because if we had played like that, pressed like that from the start it would have been a different game. In the end we couldn't get that last goal.
"When I have watched them [Liverpool] this season they have been so good but there has been a few times they have gone 2-0 up and then conceded two, we had the belief. We got the one back, a great finish Idrissa [Gueye] but we couldn't get that last goal."
Liverpool's new fan favourite
Alexander Isak might be Liverpool’s shiny new toy, but the fans haven’t let the Swede’s arrival hog their love.
Hugo Ekitike hasn’t taken long to win over the Anfield faithful.
Hugo Ekitike reflects on first Merseyside derby
“It’s a very good feeling,” Ekitike told TNT Sports. “We knew it would be a very tough game, it was. We had to fight until the very last minute.
“I feel proud, it was a good test for me. To score my goal and win it at the end, you can just be proud and happy for the team. We just have to keep going.”
Ryan Gravenberch: 'We have more freedom'
“I’m really happy with the goal,” Gravenberch told TNT Sports. “Last season I did not score a lot so I’m really happy, especially in a Merseyside derby.
“When Mo gets the ball we know he has that pass and that the players on the ball side the space is in behind.
“We know we had three games in seven days, in England it is really tough, but we prepared well.
“The goal we conceded did not need to happen. We were a little bit going back and going for the counter, we had chances to score again but didn’t.
“This season we have more freedom in the midfield, last season I was in the six, deep, but now I can go forward more.”
Liverpool's perfect start
Liverpool have won each of their opening five matches of a top-flight season for only the fifth time in their history, after 1978/79, 1990/91, 2018/19, and 2019/20.
Convincing or not, the Reds have enjoyed a perfect start.
Ryan Gravenberch's moment of magic
This is worth another look. And another. And another.
Jack Grealish fumes at referee
“I’ve never seen a player in my whole life be booked for taking a quick free-kick (referring to caution of Dewsbury-Hall),” Grealish told TNT Sports.
“Even the added time. Three minutes and one minute, come on, I’ve never seen that in the Premier League in the last two or three years.
“I know you want to let play go, but you can’t let one go for us and then the next minute one of their defenders gets touched and goes down.”
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