After another tough week in what has been a troubled campaign for Liverpool, manager Arne Slot's quest to secure a Premier League top-five spot faces the challenge of a historic Merseyside derby battle.
On the Sunday, eighth placed Everton to play host to their city rivals for the first time at the Hill Dickinson Stadium looking to cut the gap on Liverpool, currently in the fifth and final Uefa Champions League slot, down to just two points.
The clash comes five days after Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League after losing both quarter-final legs 2-0 against holders Paris Saint-Germain.
Adding to Slot's woes was the loss of top-scorer Hugo Ekitike who was carried off the pitch in the first half at Anfield after rupturing his Achilles tendon.
The injury will rule France attacker Ekitike, who has 17 goals and six assists this season, will miss the rest of the season and this summer's Fifa World Cup in North America.
It is the latest blow in a campaign that has seen Liverpool lose 17 matches across all competitions, their worst tally this century, in what has been a meek surrender of their Premier League crown.
While support for Slot is disappearing fast on the Anfield terraces, the Dutch coach insists a season which has seen such an alarming slump in fortunes can be blamed on simple old bad luck.
“Will there ever be another season where we concede so many goals in extra time? I don’t think that is even possible, so that would even add six, seven or eight points to our total,” said Slot.
“Will ever have a season with so many injuries again? You can’t rule it out but it is not realistic to have so much bad luck. And I can factor in even more things to this season.
“The main thing is how we were able to compete against Paris Saint-Germain after only being two days off, with them being rested for a week; how we have been able to compete against the other quarter-finalists here at home.
“Then you see that with doing the right things in the summer and not being as unlucky as we were this season, we can have a better season.”
Against PSG on Tuesday, Slot started with both Ekitike and record-signing Alexander Isak in attack – leaving Mohamed Salah on the bench again – with the Swede making his first start since December.
It was gamble that did not pay off with Isak taken off at half-time, clearly well short of match fitness, after Ekitike had picked up his season-ending injury. “If I thought he wasn't ready then I wouldn't have played him,” Slot said of Isak after a match which had seen the Swede touch the ball just five times.
As for Ekitike, Slot is confident that his summer signing from Eintracht Frankfurt can come back even stronger. “It's devastating for him [Ekitike] coming to a new club and having an impact,” said his manager, who lifted the title in what was his first season in charge after replacing Jurgen Klopp.
“My first thoughts are with him being out for such a long time and missing out on special moments. He's not the first or last to experience this.
“There are so many examples of players that came back even stronger – that's his challenge. He could be one of those in 10-15 years time that will say the injury made him stronger and to perform at an even higher level than before.
“Someone said to me the day after [PSG], you cannot write the script that, on the day Alex is back after four months, the other one leaves the pitch with a long-term injury. It is a good thing Alex is back now even more, but we also know he is not ready to play 90 [minutes] yet.”
Slot was also determined to take the positives from that PSG loss which had seen Liverpool fail to score over 180 minutes of football but at least did see them challenge the holders at Anfield.
“We were able to have more ball possession, to generate 21 shots, to have a high xG against a team that is used to the fact they dominate ball possession,” he said.
“Even if you take into account that Hugo had to go off after 30 minutes, Alex had to go off at half-time. If you would see them playing over 90 minutes in their best shape, then this team has already shown, as they did in so many other moments, that they can compete with the best teams in Europe.
“That tells you this is already a very strong team but it takes some changes with Robbo [Andy Robertson] and Mo [Salah] leaving – but the future looks bright for us.”
Everton, meanwhile, are aiming to maintain their push for what will be their first taste of European football since playing in the 2017/18 Europa League.
And after the struggles of recent years – which has seen them regularly involved in relegation battles, while the club was also docked points for breaching Premier League financial rules – manager David Moyes is delighted with the change in fortunes.
“Over the years, if it's having a last game of the season and avoiding relegation, then that's nothing to celebrate, really,” said Moyes who returned for his second spell as manager in January 2025.
“I don't think you can be a team in the relegation zone and just surviving. I think you can celebrate winning trophies or challenging for Europe, so I hope they can enjoy this side of it rather than the side we've seen before.”
