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By IAN LADYMAN Published: 07: 58 AEDT, 3 April 2025 | Updated: 08: 54 AEDT, 3 April 2025 3 View comments The good news for Liverpool is that this may be as hard as it gets. The only team wishing to deny them as badly as Everton between now and the end of the season will be Arsenal and by the time they visit Anfield on May 10, this title race may be all but over. This was difficult for Liverpool. It was really difficult. Deep into injury time – at around about the time Everton got them at Goodison in mid-February – the nerves that threatened to derail Liverpool in the first half were back and they were giving the ball away and inviting pressure. At the death Everton won a corner. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford advanced and Anfield inhaled. It came to nothing and Anfield exhaled. And a minute later it was over. A major obstacle overcome, a big step taken. Liverpool deserved this victory, as well. They were far from their best but they got better as the game wore on and the goal from Diogo Jota that won the game just before the hour was a really good one. And so now they are a little closer to heaven, to just a second English title in 35 years. The lead over Arsenal is 12 points once again and now Liverpool need four wins and not five. On Sunday Arne Slot and his team are at Fulham 24 hours after Arsenal play at Everton. This is how it tends to work at this stage of the season. After you, sir. Everton did their damndest to deny them here. Captain James Tarkowski should have been sent off early on but wasn’t and then, with Virgil van Dijk asleep on the half hour, visiting striker Beto struck a post. The game was anyone’s at that point. It was scrappy and directionless. So at times were Liverpool. But the crucial part is that they settled down. They played their football. They got better. That was what mattered. Liverpool went 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League after beating Everton 1-0 Diogo Jota's second half strike settled what was a nervy Merseyside derby on Wednesday Jota's smart run and finish inside the area was only his second Premier League goal of 2025 Liverpool were nervous, that much was clear. Slot’s players – urged by their manager beforehand to play with the energy missing in the Carabao Cup Final – looked apprehensive in the tunnel beforehand. Mo Salah – on his haunches by the wall – looked particularly so. They didn’t bring a save of note from Jordan Pickford in the first 45 minutes. The Everton and England goalkeeper fielded a Salah header at the far post in the 28th minute and caught a deflected shot from Ryan Gravenberch with similar ease 15 minutes later. That apart, it was all reasonably straight forward for Everton, Sitting deep with a bank of five in front of one of four, they forced Liverpool to play all their football in front of them. Only occasionally did the home team look like sliding a pass through the blue ranks. More often they attempted to move the ball wide to Salah or Luis Diaz and on most of those occasions the crosses that followed simply came back at them. Liverpool were actually fortunate not to be behind after 45 minutes, Beto running free to strike a post for Everton. Equally, Everton should have been down to ten men early on. James Tarkowski – the scorer of Everton’s 98th minute equaliser at Goodison Park a month and a half ago – took the ball cleanly as he challenged Alexis Mac Allister 22 yards from goal but his follow through was reckless and he was not in control as he clattered straight through the Liverpool man with studs showing. Referee Sam Barrott showed the Everton captain a yellow card and VAR had a look only to decide the punishment was sufficient. Tarkowski is not a dirty player but he was lucky here. It was a pretty dreadful challenge. Liverpool sought to build momentum thereafter but struggled. Dominik Szoboszlai drifted the free-kick that followed that incident wide while in the build up there had been a fine block by Jarrad Branthwaite as Diogo Jota looked set to worry Pickford. There was the other occasional moment to concern Everton but Liverpool’s threat sporadic. They were too often the wrong side of the fine margins and that betrayed their anxiety. A major talking point came in the first half when James Tarkowski somehow avoided a red card Tarkowski had been booked for his challenge on Alexis Mac Allister and VAR didn't upgrade it Beto had caused Liverpool's defence problems and had a first half goal disallowed for offside Everton, meanwhile, were assertive on the counter. Virgil van Dijk was having a poor night and he was embarrassed twice by the Portuguese striker Beto. First, in the 21st minute, Beto embarrassed his opponent to put the ball in the net but was a foot offside. Then, 12 minutes later, he made a fool of the Liverpool skipper once again only to slam his shot against the post when it seemed easier to score. Liverpool needed to improve and they did. The opening 20 minutes of the second half saw their football improve in its speed and decisiveness. Their movement was better, too, and as such they started to benefit from the kinf of broken play that they thrive on. Their set pieces were poor. Corner after corner was wasted. But from open play they started to threaten more regularly. Gravenberch made Pickford parry from 25 yards as Salah sniffed the rebound. Then Jota had a shot on the turn was blocked before Salah got round the back to cross dangerously. Everton were starting to blow as the hour approached. Chasing a football can do that to you. And then, in the 57th minute, Liverpool scored. LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Kelleher 7; Jones 7, Konate 5. 5, Van Dijk 5. 5, Robertson 6. 5; Gravenberch 7. 5, Mac Allister 7; Salah 7 (Endo 90), Szoboszlai 6, Diaz 6. 5 (Gakpo 86); Jota 8 (Nunez 75, 6). Subs not used: Jaros, Mc Connell, Quansah, Tsimikas, Chiesa, Elliott. Scorer: Jota 57. Booked: Jota, Nunez. Manager: Arne Slot 6. 5. EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Pickford 6. 5; O’Brien 6. 5, Tarkowski 7, Branthwaite 7. 5, Mykolenko 6. 5; Garner 6. 5 (Iroegbunam 78), Gueye 6. 5; Harrison 5 (Ndiaye 69, 5. 5), Doucoure 5. 5 (Chermiti 86), Alcaraz 6 (Young 78); Beto 6. 5 (Broja 79). Booked: Tarkowski, Beto. Subs not used: Joao Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Coleman. Booked: Tarkowski, Beto. Manager: David Moyes 6. Referee: Sam Barrott 5. Attendance: Not provided. Beto also saw an effort hit the post as he gave Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate a torrid time Everton were compact and generally shackled Liverpool's attacking stars like Mohamed Salah But this was a huge victory for Arne Slot's men as they close in on the Premier League title Again picking up loose ball in space, Liverpool moved it towards Diaz on the edge of the penalty area. He was offside but knew it so didn’t join in until play was recycled. When he did, he managed to feed Jota and the little forward weaved his way in to space to wrong foot Pickford and score low down the centre of the goal with his right foot. Anfield was suddenly alive, energised by a release of pressure. Everton didn’t throw the kitchen sink at it immediately. Moyes chose to stay in the game and then made his substitutions late in the night as he tried to snatch something. It wasn’t the worst tactic and given that Liverpool couldn’t find a second goal it ensured we had a tense finish. Diaz looked as though he may seal the game in the 82nd minute after a neat touch and pass from substitute Darwin Nunez afforded him to space. This time Pickford saved with his feet. As the game entered its death throes, Everton had not created a chance since Beto struck the post almost an hour earlier. That summed up the way the second half had played out.
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