Liverpool ease to derby win

Liveprool are up to third in the Premier League table after they enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 Merseyside derby win over Everton at Anfield.

With a number of injuries to key players, Toffees boss Ronald Koeman sprang a couple of surprises with his starting XI and chosen formation but it backfired as Liverpool's attackers mercilessly punished the big holes in their opponents' defence.

With right-back Seamus Coleman absent having suffered a double fracture on Ireland duty, the Dutchman opted for a three-man central defence with Matthew Pennington coming in for his first start of the season alongside veterans Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams.

The system failed to function however, with man-of-the-match Philippe Coutinho taking advantage of acres of space on the left to cut Everton to ribbons on multiple occasions.

It was his attacking partner Sadio Mane who got the ball rolling, taking advantage of space created by a clever Coutinho run - and two confused Everton defenders running into each other - to fire a perfect finish into the far bottom corner of Joel Robles' net on nine minutes.

The ease with which Coutinho and Mane in particular were able to pick up the ball deep before driving at the Everton defence signalled danger but Koeman didn't respond to the obvious threat.

The visitors only occasionally attacked with any real intent but on 29 minutes they managed to equalise against the run of play, slack marking from a corner seeing the ball richocet off Williams and fall perfectly for the unmarked Pennington to sweep the ball past Simon Mignolet for his first goal for the club.

Everton's celebrations were short-lived however, when just two minutes later Coutinho was allowed to pick up the ball and run from deep, Pennington didn't prevent him from cutting inside on his right foot and the Brazilian curled an unstoppable shot into Robles' far top corner.

At the other end, in-form striker Romelu Lukaku was totally anonymous throughout, starved of service and unable or unwilling to battle to create chances for himself.

Ross Barkley meanwhile was his usual disappointing self in a big match and in a game of a few tasty challenges, he was lucky to only receive a yellow card for a shocking, over-the-ball lunge on Dejan Lovren.

The hosts were dealt a blow in the second half when Mane limped off after appearing to go over on his ankle but his replacement, Divock Origi, effectively sealed the three points within minutes of coming on, taking advantage of a massive gap between the centre-halves to blast past Robles - who appeared to jump out of the way of the ball - from outside the area.

The remaining half-hour saw Everton rarely look like getting the goal that would bring them back into the contest and Liverpool expertly managed the game to ease to a commanding victory on the day they remembered the recently deceased club legend Ronnie Moran.

The result sees Liverpool move seven points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United, albeit having played three games more, while Everton still haven't won at their neighbours' home since 1999.

Source: ISNTV

Image: Getty/Andrew Powell

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