Everton clashes ‘extra special’ but ‘I’m never scared of losing’ says Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk
Virgil van Dijk has highlighted how “extra special” Merseyside derby clashes with Everton are but claims “I am never scared to lose”.
The Liverpool defender told TNT Sports’ Peter Crouch for Around the Block that “you play for a lot more than just three points, you play for pride and so many fans around the world,” in the city rivalry.
Everton are arguably in slightly better recent form having won three of their past four in all competitions, and are coming off a 3-0 victory against Bournemouth, while Liverpool’s controversial defeat by Tottenham was their previous match.
Van Dijk said: “The aim, of course, is to win every game. But you feel always it’s extra special. You have a couple of games a year [against Everton] and it just feels a little bit more special, especially for the fans.
“That’s just [how it is] with big clubs and especially at Liverpool, these games definitely are part of that and I’m never scared to lose or I don’t think you should go into a game and thinking like, ‘What if we lose?’ or ‘We can’t lose’.
“It’s just dealing with it in the way that you would deal with any other game, but obviously being aware that you play for a lot more than just three points. You play for pride and so many fans around the world, not only obviously in Liverpool but around the world as well.”
Up for the fight
Van Dijk is unlikely to be referring specifically to not being scared of Everton, but an attitude which all players need to have for every game.
If Sean Dyche can get his players into that mindset for the trip to Anfield on Saturday (21 October) then the derby nature of the game could cause the 12 places between the two sides in the Premier League to go out of the window.
It is going to need to for the Toffees to continue any momentum from before the international break, although the did bounce back well from their previous defeat, a bad 2-1 home reverse to Luton Town on 30 September.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s recent run of availability, and his subsequent scoring form, have been a big part of the more positive results in the past weeks.
If he can continue that and get support from the likes of James Garner and Abdoulaye Doucouré then Everton could get at a new-look Reds midfield that won’t have experienced a Merseyside derby before.
That would help put pressure on Van Dijk at the back and give Dyche’s men a chance to record an upset, but they are all going to have to be on their game to take advantage of any wobble at Anfield amid the fallout from the VAR issues against Spurs.
In other Everton news, Stan Collymore expects Toffees fans to forgive defeat in the derby.