Everton

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Former Liverpool winger Steve McManaman, speaking on TNT Sports: "It is apt really that the last game at Goodison Park is a game like this. Like an old school 80s game.

"There was not a load of quality in the game but it was wild, it had passion, it had fight.

"There were a number of sending offs at the end, people wanted to antagonise each other and fight each other. It was fitting it ended in absolute chaos.

"Abdoulaye Doucoure had 37,000 of his own fans to go and celebrate in front of. To go and antagonise the Liverpool fans was a silly decision. It was only going to end one way.

"Doucoure is an important player and if Everton go on and lose in their next game it will have been proved an even worse decision."

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Everton manager David Moyes, speaking to TNT Sports: "Mental probably sums it up. A brilliant finish for us, to finish the last Goodison Merseyside derby and score in the last minute is in a way fitting.

"We would have liked to have won the game but at 2-1 down I was just thinking that we probably weren't going to get back in, it just looked like Liverpool would keep us out.

"We worked hard, kept at it, probably had more attempts in the second half than the first. [Tarkowski] had the quality which was the one that really mattered."

On Tarkowski scoring on his 100th Premier League appearance for Everton: "I think after his game last weekend he'll be pleased he got the goal. He scored a great goal tonight and it will be remembered in history."

On how this game compares to others he has managed: "It was right up there and it was great at the end. I think the night was maybe made for something to happen.

"It wasn't the greatest, it wasn't the cleanest game of football you've ever watched, but it was a bit of a throwback, a bit scrappy for both sides. We had to find a way of making the gap not so big tonight and did a good job of it."

On what has changed since he took over as Everton manager: "The fact is, I think the players have responded really well in what they've done.

"We've made more chances. Beto's come in and scored the goal, he's scored for us earlier on as well. That's really helped us, we're suddenly creating a few more chances than we had. All praise to the players."

On Abdoulaye Doucoure's sending off: "I'm disappointed with Doucoure because we need him, we're down on numbers at the moment. We've got to be careful what we do.

"Discipline is never easy sometimes in these games and tonight was a game where quite easily sending offs happen."

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Everton goalscorer James Tarkowski, speaking to TNT Sports: "Early on I got a chance and I panicked a bit.

"Late on I just decided to get in the box, it dropped, I just let it go and see what happens. Amazing to score and what an amazing night.

"I just saw the ball going wide and thought 'last minute, why not?'. It managed to fall to me and I let it rip."

On what the wait for the VAR check felt like: "I don't score many so I thought it would have been typical if it was disallowed. I had a tough weekend so it's nice to get one back."

On what it means for the fans: "Listen to [the noise from the stands], that's amazing. These will remember it. I'm just proud of my team, [we] stuck at it, they [Liverpool] didn't create much, and we got the goal at the end."

On what he made of Everton's performance: "We knew it was a tough game but we worked hard, restricted them to a minimum amount of shots. Disappointed with the way the goals go in but we've started to score a few goals now, thankfully we got two tonight."

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Timed at 97:08, James Tarkowski's equaliser for Everton was the latest goal scored on record (from 2006-07) in a Premier League Merseyside derby.

It was also Liverpool's second-latest conceded on record against any side in the competition, after Robin van Persie's goal for Arsenal in April 2011 (97:10).

This was the 120th and final Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool at Goodison Park in all competitions. Both sides have won exactly 41 each of those fixtures (D38).

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Goodison Park will host its 120th and final Merseyside derby on Wednesday, more than130 years after the first in 1894.

There have been some classic games but in recent years, the main theme of derbies on the blue side of Stanley Park has been cancelling one another out,.

In total, as the above data from Opta Analyst shows, 37 of the 119 derbies at Goodison have been draws, external, including nine of the past 12 Premier League meetings.

And if points were not hard enough to come by, so are goals. Across 119 meetings, there are only six goals between the two teams, with Everton having scored 141 goals and Liverpool 147.

However, those goals have also dried up in recent seasons, as five of their last 10 meetings at Goodison have ended 0-0.

Either way, besides playing for the usual derby pride, the bragging rights regarding the last victory at Goodison are at stake and the winner will also forever hold a 42-41 advantage over the other.

That is because at 41 apiece, both teams have won the same number of games.

We are set for a big night under the lights at Goodison Park.

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Everton fan Kathy Keig believes "history could repeat itself" in the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, after the Toffees dealt Liverpool's title hopes a blow with a 2-0 home win last season.

Arne Slot's side will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table, while David Moyes' men will be looking to pull themselves further away from the relegation zone.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Kathy said: "The last derby deserves to go out on a smashing game. I do think that, with our change in manager, we won't just be defending now. Hopefully it will be built on a solid defence, because that's a good start, but we do need to give them a good game.

"We know on paper that there is a huge gap between the two clubs, but I think the fans will be the 12th man and anything could happen.

"Can history repeat itself after last year? We would love to go out on a win - I think the ground deserves that. I just want a great game, for all the players to keep their heads, and for it to be 11 versus 11."

Mike Hughes
BBC Radio Merseyside reporter

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The final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park will evoke a million memories for fans of both Everton and Liverpool.

Goodison staged its first of these fixtures on Saturday, 13 October 1894. A new Football League record of 44,000 fans were in attendance. Everton won the game 3-0 thanks to goals from Tom McInnes, Alex Latta and Tom Bell.

A lot of footballing water has passed under the bridge since then. But remarkably in derby matches played at Goodison in all competitions, both teams have won on 41 occasions. That perhaps underlines the closeness of the rivalry.

Everton fans tonight will invite their memory banks to revisit the Alan Ball-inspired successes against their deadly rivals or Andy King's rocket shot that ended a barren period in derby matches.

In more recent times they can draw on last season's corresponding fixture. Everton's 2-0 victory more or less ended Liverpool's Premier League title hopes. But that painful defeat for the Reds was actually the last time they lost an away game in the league.

In the very short time since returning as manager, David Moyes has gone a long way to changing Everton's season. He's given confidence and belief to the players and restored the faith of the fans. There's still a fair way to go before their Premier League survival is ensured, but the manager has built a solid platform on which to build.

Moyes also knows that Liverpool are a benchmark team. If you can reach their standards throughout a season, then you're doing well. But he will want to surpass those same standards tonight. He will ask his players to grow into the roles that the supporters expect from them, for an historic encounter at this wonderful old stadium.

If you know your history, you will know what is needed this evening. Liverpool are the best side in the country, but no team is unbeatable.

David Moyes will not be asking his players to remember the past tonight. He will be telling them to think of the future. For Everton, that future has to begin with what happens tonight.

Listen to Total Sport Merseyside from 18:00 on weeknights and find details here of live Everton match commentaries on BBC Radio Merseyside

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This is a big week for The Wombats drummer and lifelong Everton fan Dan Haggis.

The band's sixth album, Oh! The Ocean, is out on Friday but, before then, Wednesday sees the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.

"I am 100% thinking we can get something out of Wednesday," Haggis told BBC Sport. "It's going to be a tough game but I actually feel really positive heading into it after our run of results in the Premier League.

"Even in the 2-0 loss to Bournemouth in the FA Cup, we hit the post a few times and had the ball cleared off the line, so that was not all doom and gloom.

"Plus, it's the derby and, every year, no matter how badly we are playing at that moment, you always feel like anything can happen when we play Liverpool. Every player might just be up for it that little bit more, and that could make the difference.

"So, yes I am excited about it and in a way, as an Everton fan, the pressure is off. No-one expects us to win so, if we lose - although I will be disappointed - it is not as if this is a game where we are expected to get anything.

"From that point of view, a draw would be a bonus, but I am actually confident we will do better than that, and my prediction is that we will win 2-1.

"With Iliman Ndiaye, and the way the whole team is playing at the moment, we are looking pretty good. Carlos Alcaraz also looked pretty good in his first game on Saturday, so we have got players who could have a special moment or two. All it takes is to get a couple of those in the game."

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Long-serving Everton fans spoke to BBC Sport about their Goodison Park memories ahead of the final Merseyside derby at the iconic stadium on Wednesday.

Jackie – going to Goodison for 47 years - said: "It would be amazing to finish here with a win and to go into the new ground on the back of that. A win would be nice because they are the leaders too and it might stop them from winning the league like last season. The chant from last season 'You lost the league, at Goodison Park' will come out again on Wednesday. My first game was in 1978 and they were the glory years for the club and we have been through a rough patch since then.

"The memories of the derby here are not very good, but there have been a lot of draws, that is better than a loss. We don't make it easy for them and things have definitely improved under David Moyes - the players have started playing for the shirt again. They have pride in playing again and we have our old Everton back, that is all I ever wanted."

Mike – going to Goodison for 23 years - told BBC Sport: "Any game now is a countdown towards the last game here at Goodison Park. It is a hugely important game and we are the original club on Merseyside. It is always nice to get one over on our rivals, but it would be especially nice on Wednesday considering the season they are having.

"They lost the league at Goodison Park many times, last season and 2019 too. There were not many positives last season but beating them with such a powerful display was beautiful. We are not going to have too many more games under the lights at Goodison so hopefully we can say goodbye to the Grand Old Lady in style.

"It has been tough going the last few seasons but I was 14 years old when we beat them in the Lee Carsley derby and it was fun going into school the next day. Then it was a while until the Dan Gosling one. We can pin-point the derby wins here. We have not beaten them a huge amount at Goodison but hopefully that will change when we get to the new stadium."

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Natalie – who has been attending Goodison since 1995 - told BBC Sport: "With our recent upturn in results, the threat of relegation has reduced for us so this derby is all about the beginning of the Goodison goodbye for the fans. It is hugely important for us to finish with a win or at least without a defeat. We know Liverpool fans would love to rub it in but we have to avoid that.

"A win on Wednesday would forever be up there as a favourite derby win. The last Everton player to score a winner in the derby at Goodison will go down in history.

"Your first derby win is always special and mine was a 2-0 win in 1997. The best bit for an eight-year-old me was shouting "dodgy keeper" repeatedly at David James. I felt like I was ready to join the 'Ultras'."

Paul – coming to Goodison since the early 60s - commented: "I will feel emotional at the game on Wednesday, remembering all of the great players I have seen in a blue shirt over the course of the 60 years I have been coming to Goodison. I am fervently hoping the team can give us a win that will honour the Blues of the past. If we do win, it will be remembered for a very long time.

"A bad memory from derbies at Goodison is from 1982 when defender Glenn Kealey was signed from Blackburn and given his debut against Liverpool. He was sent off after half an hour. We ended up losing 5-0 and what made it worse was I was sitting next to a Red. It was the longest afternoon of my life!

"The good memory is from 1994, Joe Royle's first game as manager and bottom of the league with only one win all season. Liverpool were near the top but we won 2-0 with Duncan Ferguson's first goal for Everton and ended up winning the FA Cup at the end of the season."

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Chris, who has been attending Goodison for 48 years, contacted BBC Sport and said: "It would be fantastic to sign off the last possible derby here with a victory and it's going to happen because of the David Moyes factor and the form the side have been in. They will start plummeting after this game and we'll give a boost to Mikel [Arteta] because he did well for us.

"Through the 1970s it was frustrating, the 80s were fantastic and we were getting on top of them but then English clubs got banned from Europe and that put the boot in to us. We have had a few disasters against them here though, like the 5-0 defeat in 1982."

Guy and his son Sammy wrote: "A win on Wednesday would go down in history, I think we will stay in the league by the end of the season but to sign off with a win is something I cannot put into words. Just beating them on any occasion is amazing but to beat them on Wednesday would be immense. It would also mean bragging rights this side of the city.

"The memory of playing Liverpool here last season is good, but we have not had a good time of it over the years. It has been tough. With the new owners, things are stable for the first time in a long time and we are moving in the right direction. I was happy getting David Moyes in, we were here for the third round game against Peterborough when Sean Dyche got sacked and I wanted Moyes in then."

This is actually quite tricky to call, a lot more so than when it was meant to be played in December.

All those changes Arne Slot made in the FA Cup to rest his players means the quadruple is gone now for Liverpool and, with apologies for being pedantic, it also means they cannot win the Treble either - not the proper one, anyway.

I didn't quite get why Slot did not load his bench with his star players against Plymouth, although my first question would actually be: why not start some of them and get in front in the game, then look to make changes?

I do understand Liverpool are fighting on all fronts, but did they disrespect the FA Cup? Everyone does that, to an extent, but that doesn't make it right. My point here is that Slot did not think about having his big players available if they were needed, which is what Manchester City did against Leyton Orient.

I covered that game for BBC Radio 5 Live and when I saw Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne come on for City, I thought they meant business. They helped City get through.

Everton also went out of the FA Cup, but David Moyes went strong with his line-up against Bournemouth and they hit the woodwork three times.

I do not think that defeat means the Toffees have lost much of the momentum they had built from winning their past three league games and, of course, this is the last Merseyside derby to be played at Goodison Park, which adds an extra edge to it from their point of view.

Part of me thinks Liverpool will still nick a win, but I am actually going to back Everton to get something here. It will be a close game, that's for sure.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

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Former Everton midfielder Leon Osman, speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside about the final derby against Liverpool to be played at Goodison Park:

"The fact that Liverpool are going for the title again, the fact that Everton are under a new manager trying to enjoy a push towards the end of the season, and add in the fact that this is the last ever Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, it will make it that much more intense.

"It will probably be whoever manages to handle that pressure and emotion that wins the match. I'll get swept along by it - I'm sure many fans will, by that emotion. Hopefully, for the blue side of Merseyside, we come out as victors."

On his favourite derby memory: "My first derby will always be my favourite. It was 2004 and Lee Carsley scored the winner in our push to finish in the Champions League positions that season.

"We showed that we weren't there by fortune - we were there by how we played and the quality we'd shown. It was a brilliant game, a brilliant season, and the fact it was my first start in a derby [means] it will always remain special to me."

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Everton against Liverpool is the fixture to have seen the most red cards (23) and had the most goalless draws (12) in Premier League history.

Everton manager David Moyes spoke to the media about Wednesday's Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.

BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty has been reminiscing on the 4-4 thriller that took place between Everton and Liverpool at Goodison Park in the 1991 FA Cup fifth round.

After a goalless first meeting at Anfield, the Merseyside rivals played out an exhilarating draw, which ended up being Kenny Dalglish's final match before resigning as manager of the Reds.

Substitute Tony Cottee's equaliser six minutes from the end of extra time secured a draw for the hosts after they fought back from a goal down four times.

The second replay, also at Goodison, finished 1-0 to the Toffees - the last FA Cup tie to go to multiple replays before a rule change the following season limited ties to one replay.

"It was an absolutely wild game because Liverpool led four times and Everton pulled them back four times," McNulty said.

"Liverpool scored some absolutely wonderful goals, some strange goals, people clearing the ball off the line and it flying back in.

"Every time you thought Liverpool had won the game there would be some calamity in their defence that bought Everton back into it. It was an incredible game of football.

"I remember walking away from that and people from our vintage were saying they had never seen anything like it.

"It was an absolutely wild night of football. I remember it like it was yesterday because we had never seen a derby like it, with goals being exchanged like that.

"Then obviously there were the events after it with Kenny resigning a couple of days later."

Listen to Goodison's Greatest Derbies on BBC Sounds

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

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On Wednesday, I am going to cover Celtic v Bayern Munich and the first things to pack are my special noise-cancelling headphones.

They do not kill all the noise as the decibels go above danger levels, but at least I will be able to hear my colleague, Ian Dennis, as he commentates alongside me.

It will be a phenomenal night, but even so I will be torn.

There is another game being played at the same time that will certainly run it close in terms of noise, passion and emotion.

My old club, Everton, play the last derby against Liverpool at Goodison Park before their move next season.

Part of my heart will be there, remembering all the great derbies at that beautiful old ground. If I had to pick one game to stand for them all, it would be one I played in: the 4-4 after extra time cup draw back in February 1991.

Under floodlights and with the pitch packed with phenomenal, world-class players, it was an extraordinary, action-packed night and one that no-one who saw it will ever forget.

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Former Everton forward Danny Cadamarteri has been recalling scoring as an 18-year-old in a Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.

Cadamarteri scored the second late on in a 2-0 win over Liverpool.

"I just remember over the course of the game I had been close to nicking a few off Bjorn Tore Kvarme and he took a chance on the ball at times," he told BBC Radio Merseyside's Phil Munns.

"He was a cultured international player who probably thought he was a little bit better than he was and wanted more time on the ball.

"I thought: 'I'm going to keep pressing him and I might catch him out.' The ball has been cleared, he's taken a chance and I've pinched the ball off him. If there was VAR they might have brought it back...

"I broke towards goal, got my head up and saw David James in the net. I'm charging towards him - then, out of the corner of my eye, I see Neil Ruddock charging across at full tilt and I'm thinking he's going to hit me. I've then shifted my attention from scoring a goal to avoiding a steam-juggernaut train hitting me full tilt!

"I chopped the ball across him because he was off balance. At that moment James stepped across and the goal opened up. I got my head down, hard and low, drilled it bottom corner and the Park End absolutely erupted. It gives me goosebumps now thinking about it.

"It's amazing memories. That game meant so much to the Evertonians. It showed the dogs of war effect, fighting for the badge."

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