Jota ends goal drought as Reds edge dramatic derby

After a Merseyside derby defined by the red cards, a match that may be remembered for the one what wasn’t.

- RICHARD JOLLY

After a meeting with Everton that brought Liverpool frustration, one that instead produced celebration with the Kop chorusing about winning the league. After Arne Slot ended the draw at Goodison Park suggesting referee Michael Oliver was to blame if Liverpool did not win the title came a match when the officiating, however questionable, will not cost them the silverware.

Instead, Diogo Jota assumed the role of derby decider, ending his drought and Liverpool’s mini-slump with a crisp strike; with it, too, went Everton’s unbeaten run, curtailed at nine. What is instead extended is David Moyes’s perhaps never-ending wait for a win at Anfield; it is now 22 games and counting.

The numbers look rather better for Liverpool. A 100th derby win came in the context of defeats to Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle. It was gritty rather than pretty – “hard-fought, definitely,” said Slot – but a 12-point lead at the Premier League summit was restored. Liverpool need a maximum of 13 more to be crowned champions.

But there are facts and there are pictures and the indelible image, perhaps destined to be replayed for quite some time, came early on. This was a second derby to revolve around James Tarkowski: hero for Evertonians at Goodison Park, he was the villain for Liverpool here.