Liverpool will equal a club-record unbeaten run against Everton if they avoid defeat in Sunday’s Merseyside derby, matching a 15-game sequence previously set between 1972 and 1978, but Jurgen Klopp is at pains to warn his players to against the perils of complacency following their 7-0 rout of Spartak Moscow in midweek.
The Reds served up some sensational attacking play against the Russians, with all seven goals shared between the front four of Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, taking their combined tally to 20 goals in the last six matches. In the past 10 days, Liverpool overall have recorded three straight wins by an aggregate of 15-1.
However, Klopp rightly cites the 7-0 victory over Maribor two months ago as a fine example of what can happen to any team that gets ahead of itself. Five days later, his team were turned over 4-1 by Tottenham, inviting all sorts of crisis talk, although that humbling afternoon at Wembley appears to have been a watershed in their season.
Since then, they have gone nine games unbeaten, but perhaps most striking of all - and most daunting for Everton - is the fact that all seven wins in that sequence have been achieved by three clear goals. For the visitors, this is surely an exercise in damage limitation and the priority will be a strategy to keep that ruthless quartet quiet.
Tellingly, Sam Allardyce gave short shrift to the Toffees’ remaining Europa League obligations by sending out a second string and Craig Shakespeare for the final group game against Apollon Limassol on Thursday night. Presumably, the medical appointment that prevented him making the trip to Cyprus didn’t stop him from drilling the first team at Finch Farm.
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Allardyce has been warmly received by the Goodison faithful and will regard this fixture as a shot to nothing. Nobody really expects him to get a result but any positive outcome will count as additional credit in the bank and confirmation of his tactical prowess. And Big Sam, of course, has never been one to pass up the chance to present himself as clever against a big-name counterpart.
However, those implying that Allardyce will be busy concocting a plan to expose that supposedly shaky Liverpool defence with a couple of meticulous set-piece routines might be disappointed. A change of shape could be on the cards and Everton's ambition might not stretch much beyond what Manchester United did at Anfield two months ago.
If you offered Allardyce the same outcome that Jose Mourinho achieved, he would undoubtedly snap your hand off. Not only because it’s a good result in the frightening catalogue of conceivable alternatives, but also because it’s a good result for which he would take virtually all of the credit.
Everton might be in a good place again, but there’s arguably no two easier fixtures than West Ham and Huddersfield at home once that psychological line has been drawn between the end of one regime and the start of another. And it would be foolish of them to believe those two results provide a solid platform from which to take a bullish approach across Stanley Park.
Liverpool should win this game - and possibly clear the handicap - but Everton’s approach might ensure that a clean sheet, at the very least, isn’t hard to come by. Klopp has talked at length in the build-up about the importance of “the base” from which they start, which essentially means not doing anything stupid for as long as the game remains 0-0.
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Liverpool to keep a clean sheet at 11/10
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