Liverpool claimed winners honours in the Merseyside derby this evening with a 1-0 win against Everton.

Diogo Jota’s cool 57th-minute finish was enough to put the Reds on the path to victory as Liverpool reclaimed their 12-point lead against Arsenal in the Premier League, who yesterday secured a 2-1 win against Fulham.

With the main story of the game being James Tarkowski’s reckless tackle on Alexis Mac Allister, Liverpool will be pleased to come out of tonight’s derby with a win, having recently lost the Carabao Cup final and been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League.

Yet, despite the result, it was far from Liverpool’s best performance of the season, and captain Virgil van Dijk was subject to some harsh criticism from Stephen Warnock in the first-half.

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Speaking on BBC Sport’s coverage of the match, the former Liverpool defender was critical of the Anfield skipper after Van Dijk almost allowed Beto to run through on goal to give Everton the lead, with the striker hitting the post despite being one-on-one.

With Everton’s attacking threat disappearing in the second-half, Van Dijk was left off big time after making such a schoolboy error against Beto, and the moment was one that drew a lot of criticism from Warnock.

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The pundit said: “Liverpool are caught all over the place, Van Dijk’s looking at sixes and sevens, I’ve never seen him look so ruffled in a game.

The Liverpool fans are furious, the tempo they’re playing at, the opportunities they’re giving Everton, you can hear them now saying: ‘This is not good enough.’

“He looks so composed usually, but it’s the occasion; he was out-muscled by Beto, and I’ve never seen him lash out at a ball like that, usually he uses his upper body, but he’s not looked confident tonight.”

Having featured for the Netherlands over the international break after an intense March schedule, it’s no real surprise that Van Dijk wasn’t at his best against Everton, with the defender in desperate need of a rest.

And for Liverpool fans, they should not be worried about Van Dijk’s performance tonight against Everton, with the entire squad way off the pace and doing the bare minimum to get another three points towards winning the Premier League title.

With Fulham next up for Van Dijk, the defender knows he has to do better in west London, where another win will be huge for Liverpool on their unstoppable march towards the biggest prize in English football.


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