Virgil van Dijk added insult to injury for Everton after what happened three minutes from time
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SportFootballEverton FCChris Beesley's snap analysis following Everton's devastating 2-1 Premier League defeat to Liverpool at Hill Dickinson StadiumVirgil van Dijk’s stoppage-time winner for Liverpool added insult to injury for Everton after the hosts had to defend a corner kick in the dying seconds of the game without their most valuable player, Jarrad Branthwaite, who had been stretchered off the pitch with 87 minutes on the clock.After suffering a reoccurrence of the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Premier League Summer Series in the Blues’ final pre-season friendly against Roma – the inaugural first-team game in front of fans at Hill Dickinson Stadium – the 23-year-old was forced out of the action again in the latter stages of the first Merseyside Derby at his club’s new home on the waterfront.In between all of that, the England international missed eight months of competitive football before returning to action against Leeds United in late January, and while Everton were hopeful of keeping him fit for the remainder of the campaign, even if that meant managing his minutes at times, the sight of him being carried off the turf is not just a sickening blow to them but to the player himself, as his season could now be over, along with any lingering outside hopes of forcing his way into Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup plans.FOLLOW OUR EVERTON FC FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest EFC news and analysis from via the Liverpool Echo’s dedicated FB pageThe Blues could have really done with his presence for that late Liverpool corner and for their remaining five fixtures to boot as they look to secure a European place......For the latest news and breaking news, visit liverpoolecho.co.uk/all-about/everton-fc.
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Christopher is well-known for his sartorial elegance and even though he is now older than the Glaswegian gaffer when he first took charge of Everton, there is a running joke at press conferences where the Blues boss asks: “Is that your dad's suit you've got on?” He conducted 20 video interviews available to watch on YouTube to coincide with Everton’s stadium move, in a series called Goodison Park: My Home, which started with the club’s most-successful captain Kevin Ratcliffe and culminated with current club captain Seamus Coleman at Goodison Park itself. Christopher is the author of two books - Spirit of the Blues: Everton's Most Memorable Matches & Goodison Park’s Greatest Games, published in 2025, and On The Banks Of The Royal Blue Mersey: Inside Everton's First Season at the Dock, to be published later in 2026.Choose Liverpool Echo as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.Everton FCLiverpool FC