Our 3️⃣ points as Liverpool go top of the Premier League after derby win | OneFootball

Mohamed Salah was at the double as he struck twice in the second half to give Liverpool a 2-0 win over Everton.

The game turned in the first half however as Ashley Young was given his marching orders for two bookable offences.

Mo Salah, Mo’ problems

What could have been an incredibly frustrating afternoon for Liverpool at Anfield was saved by the arm of Michael Keane and the boot of Mohamed Salah.

After a bright start to proceedings, Liverpool got more and more frustrated as the afternoon wore on here, with the Toffees going down to 10 men early and using that as an excuse to pack players behind the ball.

It was a tactic that worked for Sean Dyche’s men as they reduced the Reds to long distance efforts and pot shots from increasingly desperate angles.

But with 15 minutes of the game to go the deadlock was broken as Keane handled inside the area and Salah struck home the resulting penalty.

The Egypt international then netted his second of the day in the dying seconds as he raced on to a Darwin Nunez pass and fired past Jordan Pickford.

It means that Salah has now either scored or assisted in his last 13 games for Liverpool and has netted 105 goals at Anfield for Liverpool.

That’s a total that eclipses both Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard for the club.

On this form, who would bet against Salah firing Liverpool to another title?

Old enough to know better

Hindsight is always 20/20 but it’s clear that this game turned on Ashley Young’s red card in the first half.

The Toffees had done well to stymie Liverpool’s attack and, although never that dangerous going forward, seemed to be comfortable handling Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah.

Young, in particular, was looking pretty impressive, having won three of his five duels, made two successful blocks and enjoyed an 80 per cent pass completion rate.

But with 37 minutes gone, the second-oldest player in the Premier League decided to hack down Diaz on the left-hand side and earned himself a second yellow card.

As a result, Dyche had to take Jack Harrison off, pack his midfield, and try to hold out for another 60 minutes in order to come away with a point.

It didn’t work out.

All Greek to me

Andy Robertson’s injury was bad news for almost everyone at Liverpool this last week.

Everyone except Konstantinos Tsimikas.

The Scotland international was forced off in his country’s defeat to France on Tuesday and with confirmation that he could be out for several months with a shoulder injury, the time came for Tsimikas to show his worth.

The Greece international has been at Anfield for three years now and up to this point has played a bit part in the Reds’ success.

Tsimikas will always be a cult hero at Liverpool thanks to his winning penalty in the 2022 FA Cup final.

But with Robertson gone for the time being, the 27-year-old now has the chance at a run of games.

In the first of that supposed run, the jury was very much out.

In the first half he struggled against Harrison and Dwight McNeil, committing three fouls, two of which could have been bookings.

Things improved slightly in the second half as he was allowed more freedom to attack thanks to Everton going down to 10 men.

But Tsimikas’s final delivery never cut the mustard and it’s hard to shake the feeling that against better sides, his flank will be seen as a weakness.