Paul Merson predicts Everton showdown v Liverpool in Premier League derby
Paul Merson has backed Liverpool to closely shave past Everton in their Premier League showdown on Saturday afternoon at Goodison Park.
The Sky Sports pundit has predicted that it will finish 2-1 to the away side, despite their form being nowhere near what is has been in recent years.
Merson backed Frank Lampard and admitted that he has liked seeing the fight on show from the Toffees in recent weeks in the Premier League, picking up a couple of points.
Writing in his latest column for Sportskeeda, Merson shared what he expect to happen in what will no doubt be another full-blooded showdown .
“Everton are working hard for Frank Lampard, and I like that,” he wrote.
“You always judge a team by how its players are doing, and they’re working hard for their manager. I think they’ll make it difficult for Liverpool this weekend.
“I watched Liverpool the other day, and they huffed and puffed against Newcastle. That was a mega result for them, to be honest.
“Everyone seems to think this Premier League game is a foregone conclusion, but I don’t share that view. There isn’t much in this game, and Liverpool should be able to win, but only by the odd goal.”
Get into them.
Lampard will have his squad raring to go for this one, with everything on the line in the Premier League as always.
The 1-1 draw at Leeds was the perfect build-up for the Merseyside derby too, with full-blooded challenges, players squaring up and hostile fans dominating the game.
It will be exactly the same this weekend at Goodison Park, and whoever deals with that the best will likely take home the three points, and wouldn’t that be perfect timing for us?
After three 1-1 draws which could have gone either way, we are crying out for a win.
It is the right time to step up and take that win over our nearest rivals, with their form questionable as they have struggled in big parts of all their games apart from the Bournemouth one.
The key is to keep it tight for as long as possible and then look to take advantage, something we started perfectly at Anfield last time before some questionable decisions took it away from us.
It’s all on you Everton, get those three points.