Much-improved Liverpool shows Merseyside mastery of Everton

Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo scored on either side of halftime as Liverpool claimed Merseyside derby honors with a 2-0 win over Everton at Anfield on Monday.

Liverpool moves back into ninth place, ahead of Chelsea by a point with 32 points on the season. Everton remains in the bottom three, stuck in 18th place with 18 points. Their next opponent, Leeds, has 19 points.

WATCH LIVERPOOL v EVERTON FULL MATCH REPLAY STREAM – LINK

This was a decisive win for the Reds, although the opening goal came within a half-minute of Everton’s James Tarkowski clattering a header off the far post.

The most interesting part of the second half came when Everton keeper Jordan Pickford and Liverpool back Andy Robertson went toe-to-toe on the touchline, inspiring substitute Virgil van Dijk to shove several Everton players. Toffees midfielder Amadou Onana, already subbed off, also tried to get in the mix. Both Pickford and Robertson were cautioned for their actions.

Here’s everything you need on Liverpool vs Everton.

Liverpool entered Monday’s Merseyside derby with one Premier League goal and a matching point in four 2023 matches, the latest outing a 3-0 loss at Wolves that had people asking Jurgen Klopp questions about his future.

The derby happened to occur after Sean Dyche engineered a huge debut win for the Toffees, topping Arsenal 1-0 at Goodison Park and renewing at least a few good vibes for Everton.

Realistic Everton fans would’ve noted Liverpool’s massively-advanced roster ahead of the game and maybe expected their top hopes as a bunkered-in 0-0 draw or maybe, just maybe, a smash-and-grab 1-0 at Anfield.

It was anything but that despite James Tarkowski nearly making it 1-0 to the visitors exactly 15 seconds before Darwin Nunez led a