By Jack McRae
Kostas Tsimikas, baptised as the ‘Greek Scouser’, is likely to be given a rare opportunity and spell to impress at full-back after Andy Robertson sustained a shoulder injury with Scotland. It might not be the easiest game for the bit-part player to make his first start of the Premier League season as he lines up opposite an emboldened Jack Harrison and Everton.
Harrison, a deadline day arrival on loan with an option to buy from Leeds United, will be looking to pick up where he left before the international break as he inspired Everton to a 3-0 rout of Bournemouth.
The winger struggled for consistency during his time at Leeds, but was capable of truly game changing performances – including a survival-clinching strike against Brentford on the final day of the 2021-22 season. Everton will hope they unlock Harrison’s magic to ensure they avoid being dragged into a relegation scrap of their own.
Despite their win against Bournemouth, chances of victory against Liverpool today appear slim. Everton have not won two Premier League games in a row in over a year and their notoriously poor recent record at Anfield needs no reiteration. Liverpool boss, Jürgen Klopp, was also keen to downplay his successes over their Merseyside rivals.
Klopp’s side have shown much greater steel this season than last and are perhaps unfortunate to not sit top of the league. The intensity and firepower about Liverpool that was absent in the previous term has returned following a midfield overhaul and it would be short-sighted to discount them from a title challenge.
Title challenges are a thing of the past, and an unforeseeable likelihood in the future, for an ever unstable and unpredictable Everton. Yet, putting a costly dent in a Liverpool challenge at Anfield could prove almost equally as motivating as their own survival.
Sean Dyche has managed to mastermind two victories over Klopp’s Liverpool in his time at Burnley – what he and the Everton fans making the short trip across Stanley Park would give for another today.