Aug 6, 2013; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Everton midfielder Ross Barkley (20) dribbles the ball against Valencia during the second half at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The Merseyside derby is on Saturday. It is one of the greatest rivalries in English football and the fact that both these teams are competing for a spot amongst the top of the table.
“It is going to be a fiercely-competitive game,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said, via ESPN FC. “It doesn’t take the intensity out by having the football. The idea of having possession is to penetrate and have aggression in your game. A lot of our game is based on that aggressive nature. It won’t take anything out of the game, it will only add to it.
“Our game is based upon the intensity of our pressure, to get the ball back as quickly as we can and look to have superiority with numbers around the ball.
“When you analyse our last performance against Fulham (a 4-0 home win) and assess it over and above the result we were just short of 700 passes in the game, which for me is a sign of the fluidity and the fluency of the team as much as anything.
“Our rhythm in the game was good. We had nearly 70 per cent of the ball but with that we had 30 shots at goal and we scored four goals and could have had more.
“It just typified the confidence of the players and their belief. We are averaging two goals a game and whatever ground we go to we always feel we can score.
“We (he and Martinez) have the inherent belief of dominating the ball, controlling the game with the football rather than without and looking to play attractive, attacking football.
“If a player makes a mistake trying to pass the ball we (he and Martinez) are both from the same bottle in terms of we will take the blame for them for asking them to be brave.”
Date: November 23
Start Time: 7:45 a.m. ET
Location: Liverpool, England
Stadium: Goodison Park
TV Info: NBC Sports Network, Mun 2
Radio Info: Sirius XM FC
Online Radio Stream: Talk Sport Radio
Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra
Who do you think will win? Let us know in the comments below.