It has not been an entirely convincing start by either of Merseyside’s powerhouses, but still five points and 11 places already separate them in the Premier League tableafter only five games.
After failing to win any of their opening three Premier League games, Liverpool have now bounced back with successive victories, although they came in very different fashion.
Any hopes that the record-equalling 9-0 humiliation of Bournemouth last weekend would see Jurgen Klopp’s side immediately return to their free-flowing best on a consistent basis were
soon ended during Wednesday night’s meeting with Newcastle at Anfield, where the visitors took the lead through debutant Alexander Isak and had another goal disallowed by the narrowest of offsides.
However, the Reds fought back to win in the most dramatic fashion, with Roberto Firmino levelling things up before Fabio Carvalho stole all three points with virtually the last kick of the match.
Newcastle’s anger at the 98th-minute winner – when only five minutes of injury time had been signalled – seemed to make the victory even sweeter for Klopp after a match in which he was visibly frustrated by the Magpies’ time-wasting, and even after only five games of the campaign, it felt like a significant win.
A draw would have left Liverpool already seven points adrift of Manchester City and nine behind Arsenal and, while there are still gaps to make up to the leading pack, the picture looks a lot better for them now than it would have had they dropped points for the fourth time in their opening five games.
There is still plenty of improvement to be made, though, and Liverpool’s habit of conceding the first goal – something which has now happened in eight of their last nine league games – will be an ongoing headache that Klopp is desperate to solve.
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The fact that Liverpool have only taken one point from their two away games so far this term will also be a concern, and should they fail to win again on Saturday then it would be their longest winless run on the road from the start of a season for more than a decade.
Visits to Goodison Park in recent years have more often than not ended in a share of the spoils – eight of the last 11 have seen the points shared – although Liverpool did win this fixture 4-1 last season and could now record back-to-back triumphs across Stanley Park for the first time since 2009.
Draws have been the theme for Everton in general recently, though, with Frank Lampard’s side recording 1-1 stalemates with Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Leeds United in succession.
