Premier League 2020/21: Everton vs Liverpool – tactical analysis

On the fifth game week of the 2020-21 Premier League season, Everton hosted local rivals, Liverpool in a highly anticipated derby between the defending champions and the table-toppers at Goodison Park. The home side came into the match after a blistering start to the season that saw them win all of their previous 4 matches. 

Liverpool, on the other hand, were looking to get back on winning ways after suffering a 7-2  humiliation at the hands of Aston Villa before the international break. We shall look into the tactics deployed by both the teams. Let’s get into the analysis.

Lineups

Everton lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, deviating from their usual 4-2-3-1 system where Gomes was pushed to the central midfield from the CAM role. They made no changes to the team that won against Brighton in the previous game week.

Liverpool, on the other hand, lined up in their usual 4-3-3 formation and was boosted by the arrivals of Thiago and Sadio Mané from Covid, though they lost Naby Keita to the same. Joel Matip came into the team in place of Joe Gomez while Adrian retained his place as the team’s goalkeeper.

Everton without possession

While they lined up in a lopsided 4-3-3 on paper, Everton mostly shifted to a 4-4-2 when they had to press higher up the pitch. When Liverpool tried to play out from the back, they pushed James Rodríguez as one of the forwards along with Dominic Calvert-Lewin to press the Liverpool centre-backs as to stop them from the first phase of the build-up play.