Who: Liverpool vs Everton
What: English Premier League
Where: Anfield in Liverpool, United Kingdom
When: Saturday, August 20, at 12:30pm (11:30 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 9:30pm (8:30 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.
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Liverpool manager Arne Slot kept his cards close to his chest on the possibility of Alexander Isak starting in Saturday’s Merseyside derby against Everton, saying Britain’s record signing is likely still feeling the effects of his long-awaited return to action.
The Sweden striker played an hour of Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League in his first significant action in months due to his dispute with Newcastle United and prolonged move to Liverpool.
“We just have to see how they all feel,” Slot said ahead of Friday afternoon’s training. “All I know is Alex probably felt his body more than ever before after the 60 minutes he played, so let’s see how he recovered, then we will see about the lineup.”
Slot also addressed the possibility of pairing Isak with close-season signing Hugo Ekitike up front, a combination that could offer the champions a new attacking dimension.
“If both of them are in the best form of their life then you consider more to play them together,” Slot said. “It’s quite clear that we have a certain structure of 4-3-3, but the amount of times … where we have ended the game with two nines has happened a lot as well.”
Liverpool are the only Premier League team with a perfect record, sitting atop the table with four wins from four games, while Everton are sixth after a solid start to the season.
Liverpool manager thanks Everton for Jota solidarity
Slot knows the derby atmosphere at Anfield on Saturday will be electric, but said the respect Everton showed after the death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva in a car accident in July adds another emotional layer to the match.
Everton striker Beto, who was born in Lisbon, and the club’s former Portuguese player Youssef Chermiti, now at Rangers, were among the Toffees who visited Anfield to pay their respects in the days immediately following Portugal striker Jota’s death.
“They are a good team and there is rivalry but what I also liked and what I want to emphasise is what they did when Diogo passed away, coming to Anfield,” Slot said.
“It’s so nice to see that in tragedies the rivalry is still there but the respect to both is still there.”
Slot has several Merseyside derby “debutants,” but laughed at suggestions he would need to prepare them for the atmosphere.
“For the new ones, it is not for the first time that they play in circumstances where there are a lot of rivalries and intensity in the game.”
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Everton manager says Liverpool showing ‘vulnerability’
Everton manager David Moyes said taking on Liverpool had always been a difficult task for him, but he was aware that the defending champions have some vulnerabilities.
Moyes, who has won only six of the 44 matches he has faced against Liverpool in his managerial career, said the visit to Anfield would help gauge Everton’s quality after his team picked up seven points in their first four league matches.
“As much as Liverpool have shown at different times where they have been very good … other times they have shown some vulnerability when they have conceded goals,” Moyes told reporters on Friday.
“We will have to try and take advantage of those moments as well. We played them last year at Anfield and lost to an offside goal and we want to try and run them close again and maybe this time things will go in our favour.”
Liverpool earned their first win over Everton in three matches when they beat Moyes’s side 1-0 through Jota’s second-half strike in April.
“This has always been an incredibly difficult game for me personally because we’ve always come up against a very good Liverpool team,” said Moyes, who has suffered 27 losses to them while managing Everton, Manchester United and West Ham United.
Moyes cautioned against the threat of late goals from Liverpool, who clinched victory with late strikes in all four of their league matches as well as in Wednesday’s win over Atletico.
“The better sides tend to sort of wear you down a little bit and concentration changes … we’ve shown resilience in defence so we’ll be looking to maintain that,” the Scot said.
“It was the same with [former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson], he used to be getting Fergie time … I see that as the same with Liverpool.”
Moyes, however, said Everton would always be competitive against their local rivals.
“If you’ve played in derbies or if you’ve been involved in any then you’ll know it’s always hugely important to win it if you can, that’s the job,” he added.
“I think everyone is fully aware of it, it is led by the media and the supporters and it’s such a big game and it has come quite early in the season this one, but it will give us a chance to see where we are against one of the top teams.”
Liverpool team news
Liverpool have a fully fit squad with the news that midfielder Curtis Jones is back from an unspecified problem that kept him out of the last two games.
Isak’s fitness for two starts in four days is the biggest talking point.
Everton team news
Jarrad Branthwaite (hamstring) and Vitaliy Mykolenko (unspecified) are both nearing returns for the Toffees but starts appear unlikely.
Liverpool predicted starting lineup
Alisson; Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike
Everton predicted starting lineup
Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Garner; Gueye, Iroegbunam; Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish; Beto