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- The champions elect, with 73 points after 30 games, restored their 12-point lead over second-placed Arsenal
LIVERPOOL, England: Liverpool continued their march toward the Premier League title with a 1-0 victory over Everton in a scrappy Merseyside derby as Diogo Jota slotted home the winner in the second half on Wednesday.
The champions elect, with 73 points after 30 games, restored their 12-point lead over second-placed Arsenal while Everton, whose nine-game league unbeaten ended, are 15th on 34 points.
Everton鈥檚 Beto had an early goal chalked off for offside and missed a sitter before Jota broke the deadlock in the 57th minute with his first goal in two-and-a-half months. Anfield erupted when Luis Diaz back-heeled the ball into Jota鈥檚 path and the Portuguese forward beat a tackle before firing into the net.
鈥淢assive, of course,鈥� Jota said summing up the win. 鈥淣ot only because it is a derby, but because of the (first game since the) international break. It was important to start with three points and hopefully that gives us momentum for the rest of the season.鈥�
Liverpool fans thought Everton should have been reduced to 10 men after 11 minutes following a fierce tackle by defender James Tarkowski on Alexis Mac Allister, but Everton鈥檚 captain was only shown a yellow card.
The teams had met in an explosive derby in February that ended 2-2, with Tarkowski equalising deep in stoppage time in a chaotic game that featured four red cards, including one to Liverpool manager Arne Slot.
While Liverpool are unbeaten in 26 league games, they went into last month鈥檚 international break on a negative note after being eliminated by Paris St. Germain in the Champions League and losing to Newcastle United in the League Cup final.
Slot鈥檚 men looked sluggish and disjointed on Wednesday and Everton could have gone ahead when Beto raced away from defender Virgil van Dijk and beat goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher before hitting his shot against the post.
Kelleher started in goal for Liverpool, with regular starter Alisson recovering from a concussion suffered on international duty with Brazil.
The heated mood in Anfield was cranked up another notch with the contentious early tackle. Tarkowski won the ball but his studs-up follow-through caught Mac Allister square in the calf. VAR confirmed the decision of a yellow card, which gave the center back the joint most yellow cards without being sent off in Premier League history, with 63.
鈥淚 thought at the time that it was a brilliant tackle for a derby game,鈥� Everton boss David Moyes said.
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on the Sky Sports commentary that Tarkowski was very lucky to escape a red card for a tackle that was a 鈥減otential leg breaker.鈥�
鈥淲e were playing against Everton, they make it very difficult for you,鈥� Van Dijk said. The games we have played against each other over the years have always been tough.
鈥淭hey have a certain way of playing and you have to be ready for it. The first half wasn鈥檛 our greatest but we kept a clean sheet and obviously Jota made a fantastic goal. Three points and we move on.鈥�
Moyes remained without a victory at Anfield in 22 games leading Manchester United, Sunderland and West Ham United as well as his current team.
鈥淟iverpool were the better team, there鈥檚 no doubt about that,鈥� Moyes said.
鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 like the goal, I think the goal was offside. I鈥檓 really surprised it wasn鈥檛 given. Or maybe I鈥檓 not surprised. I don鈥檛 think many managers come here and think that they get loads of decisions at Anfield generally.鈥�