Monday 19 December 2016 19:56, UK
It’s Mersey Monday on Sky Sports as Everton host Liverpool at Goodison Park and the performance of Romelu Lukaku is likely to be the key to Everton’s chances.
While Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have been irresistible going forward this season, there are doubts about their defensive record.
Indeed, going into the weekend no Premier League team in the top nine had conceded more goals. As Danny Higginbotham explains, it's an area Everton can exploit.
"Liverpool can go anywhere and score against anyone but the questions are obviously about the defence," says the Sky Sports tactics expert.
"People talk about the goalkeeper but it's a unit, you don't just look at individuals. Liverpool will play a high line. They press high so the rest of the team has to press up.
"The way to beat the press is to go over the press. It's not rocket science, it's a case of thinking, 'Where will Liverpool be vulnerable?'
"So the places for Everton to exploit are going to be in those wide areas. These are the areas they'll look to get to with Lukaku with his pace and his strength.
"He is at his best when he is running into space. He's not going to be able to do it all alone so this is where your wide players, who have good pace, will come into play.
"Can they get up the pitch quick enough to support Lukaku? That's going to be key because I don't think Everton are going to go crazy [in attack] because Liverpool can pick teams off.
"If Everton try to play out from the back that's exactly what Liverpool will want. So we'll see Lukaku being the real focal point with players needing to get in support of him."
At the other end of the pitch, the home side will need to be mindful of the damage that Adam Lallana can do - particularly following the midfielder's two goals at Middlesbrough.
"He is Liverpool's most important player at the moment," says Higginbotham. "He's key to everything. He brings so much more to the front three. His movement is absolutely brilliant.
"We've seen Lallana getting beyond the front three but against Middlesbrough, with Divock Origi playing, he was the one who stretched the game.
"Because the front three were playing so high, Origi in particular, the Middlesbrough back four were playing very deep. So more often than not Lallana would find himself in space.
"He's so good in those areas and becomes a real problem because the defence don't want to come out to him. With defence and midfield so separated, that's how he got his goals.
"The centre-backs don't want to come out of that area because if you do that then you leave spaces in behind for Origi and that's the last thing you want to do.
"So it will be a midfield player who will have to pick up his runs but he's very intelligent. Players like [Idrissa] Gueye or [Gareth] Barry are going to have to be very careful."
