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There is a lot riding on the upcoming Merseyside Derby and Everton manager David Moyes has wasted no time stirring the pot ahead of Liverpool’s first visit to the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Liverpool will head over to Bramley-Moore Dock tomorrow looking to get over their bruising Champions League exit on Tuesday to Paris St.Germain.
Champions League elimination was damaging enough, but to lose star striker Hugo Ekitike for a reported nine months has resulted in a deflated Liverpool camp ahead of such a crucial game.
With their last hope of securing any silverware fading away on a rainy Anfield night, a win against Everton will go a long way towards repairing morale and providing the Reds to end the season on a high with Champions League qualification.
However, Everton find themselves in a very promising position too and are breathing down their city rivals’ necks going into Sunday’s game.
David Moyes has steered the Toffees on course for European football next season as they sit in eighth place with six games to play.
Liverpool, who are in fifth, will be looking to widen the gap between themselves and Chelsea with an opportunity to even push into the top four this weekend if results elsewhere go their way.
In a press conference before the game, David Moyes was clearly in the mood to create some noise before the latest instalment of such a fierce rivalry.
The Everton boss was quick to agree with the question on whether he sympathises with Arne Slot for the position he finds himself in this season but then went on to fire a cheap jab Liverpool’s way, as quoted by The Guardian.
“Absolutely. Arne Slot has done a brilliant job and, I have got to say, he is really good coach. That is from a neutral point of view.”
“But I’m not having him saying they are getting bad decisions at Anfield because if you ask any Premier League manager over football history, they will tell you that if there is one club that gets all the decisions it is Liverpool Football Club. If they are getting a few bad ones at the moment, well, we have had to put up with them for years.
“There are very few decisions that go against Liverpool at Anfield. Very few. I actually think Liverpool supporters would agree with that if they were being honest as well. But as a coach, I think he’s a top coach.”
Everton bring momentum and expectation into Sunday’s clash, with the Toffees excelling during their first full season of David Moyses’s second spell with the club.
Liverpool will have to find a way to bounce back from multiple setbacks this season and prepare for a big battle tomorrow.
