Reds hold their nerve to keep up their 100% start to the campaign

FOR more than a few uncomfortable moments, Liverpool looked helpless to avoid the inevitable.

- By PAUL GORST

But rather than fling away a two-goal lead for a fourth time inside barely a month of this new season, Arne Slot's champions held their nerve and ground out another big victory that preserves their 100% start to the campaign across all competitions.

This was as competitive a Merseyside derby as there has been at Anfield for a number of years and the upwardly mobile and much more inventive Everton will feel their efforts, second half in particular, deserved more than a second defeat of the campaign.

But Liverpool's ability to etch out the maximum from afternoons when they are not at their sparkling best has become a key feature of this Premier League defence and they can now include Everton in the list of the teams they have conquered alongside title rivals Arsenal, Champions League side Newcastle and Bournemouth.

Once more it was a performance that didn't reach lofty heights but it is 15 points already.

Both first-half goals were perfect examples of the devastating threat Liverpool can carry against teams who leave gaps in their own half.

The first arrived via Ryan Gravenberch's wonderful hooked finish from Mohamed Salah's clip over the top.