Liverpool win derby to keep quadruple bid on track and add to Everton’s woes

Liverpool’s 2-0 victory in a testing 240th Merseyside derby kept their quadruple bid on track while pushing Everton slightly closer to their first relegation in 71 years.

Andy Robertson’s second goal of the season produced the vital breakthrough after 62 minutes of dogged resistance from the visitors and Divock Origi enhanced his derby legacy with his sixth goal in nine cross-city matches.

This was far from the humiliation many predicted – and Toffees fans feared – as Everton showed they can be organised and put up a fight but the one thing manager Frank Lampard could not bridge was the gulf in class.

Victory reduced the gap to leaders Manchester City back to one point, while leaving their near neighbours now two points from safety.

They had started the game in the bottom three after Burnley’s victory over Wolves and things got worse for them before a ball was even kicked at Anfield.

An injury to Ben Godfrey in the warm-up meant the visitors took the field having changed both centre-backs from the midweek draw with Leicester, Michael Keane the late replacement alongside Mason Holgate with Yerry Mina rested completely following his comeback against the Foxes after two months out with a thigh problem.

But that did not alter their tactics, which were understandably evident from the off: get behind the ball in a 4-5-1, eat up as much time as possible at restarts and frustrate the life out of their opponents.

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It could have been an approach straight out of Lampard’s former mentor Jose Mourinho’s playbook, who famously came here in 2014 with Chelsea to derail a Reds title bid.

It certainly worked for 45 minutes as they limited