Everton early team news v Liverpool: Moyes names player who could make return
David Moyes has shared an update on the Everton players he has available for the Premier League clash against Liverpool on Wednesday.
The Merseyside rivals are set to face off with one another in the last-ever derby to take place at Goodison Park.
Having crashed out of the FA Cup after a 2-0 defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday, Moyes will no doubt be looking for his team to get back to winning ways.
While the game against Liverpool might be a hard one to start with, not many of the Toffees’ games will mean much more than Wednesday’s as we edge closer to the end of the season.
Ahead of the clash, Moyes revealed the latest injury news regarding his squad at his pre-match press conference.
David Moyes drops Vitalii Mykolenko update
Moyes has revealed that seven players will miss the derby, with only Mykolenko still teetering on the edge of whether they’ll be available against Liverpool.
There is no doubt that Moyes will want the Ukraine international to be fit and ready for the game as it looks likely to be an all-out war against the Reds.
Speaking to the press ahead of the game (11 February), Moyes said the following on the defender: “[Mykolenko] started training today so hopefully he could be available – that’s probably the main one.”
The other six players who won’t be available on Wednesday are therefore: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Youssef Chermiti, Seamus Coleman, Nathan Patterson, Dwight McNeil and Armando Broja, who are all nursing their long-term injuries.
Everton simply must beat Liverpool
Seen as though this will be the last-ever Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, it feels like this game has a lot more riding on it than what a normal Merseyside derby would.
Liverpool will no doubt be out for blood themselves after their shock defeat to Plymouth on Sunday, with Arne Slot fully aware of what to expect at a rammed Goodison Park.
Aside from the last game that each team played, they’ve both been in good form, with Everton finally finding their mojo that seemed to be lost under Sean Dyche.
At the moment, it’s anyone’s guess how things are going to end up but if the Toffees don’t come out all guns blazing on Wednesday, it’s hard to see how they’ll manage to get past the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
Mohamed Salah is also likely to be a part of Liverpool’s attacking line, too, so whoever is playing at left-back needs to ready themselves for a battle, otherwise things will not follow the script in this final Goodison derby.