Robertson and Origi sink Everton to keep Liverpool on title trail

The Kop taunted Everton with chants of “Going down” while Liverpool refused to give up on catching Manchester City in the title race. Andy Robertson was the unlikely derby hero, and Divock Origi a not-so-unlikely one, with headers that broke the impressive resistance that Frank Lampard’s relegation-threatened team had staged at Anfield.

Robertson timed his second goal of the season to perfection from a Liverpool perspective with nerves increasing among the home support prior to his 62nd minute breakthrough. Origi appeared from the bench to torment Everton yet again with his third league goal of the campaign as Jürgen Klopp’s team made it 12 Premier League home victories in succession. But it was far from the procession that many had anticipated.

The sense of foreboding that accompanied Everton to Anfield deepened before a ball had been kicked in the 240th Merseyside derby. Burnley’s win over Wolves dropped Lampard’s team into the relegation zone for the first time this season. If that wasn’t enough, Ben Godfrey suffered a quadricep injury in the warm-up and was replaced by Michael Keane. Lampard had rested Yerry Mina completely following his return from a two-month lay-off against Leicester on Wednesday, leaving Everton a man down on a substitutes’ bench that included 18-year-old midfielder Isaac Price.

To their credit, neither the disruption nor the increasing fear of relegation affected the visitors in a first half that stifled and irked Liverpool in equal measure. Lampard flooded his midfield and borrowed some of the wind-up tactics that José Mourinho employed here when Chelsea derailed Liverpool’s title bid in 2014. Jordan Pickford took an age over every goal-kick and clearance. Richarlison collapsed in a heap