The Merseyside derby on Wednesday sees Liverpool and Everton gear up to go head-to-head once more following the international break. Anfield will be buzzing for this standout fixture as Premier League action resumes after a two-week hiatus.
Liverpool, currently leading the league, is eager to bounce back from a challenging week that saw it bow out of the Champions League following a loss to Paris Saint-Germain and suffer a Carabao Cup final defeat at the hands of Newcastle United prior to the international fixtures.
On the other hand, Everton is set to make the short trip to Anfield with the aim of playing the spoiler role yet again, having secured a last-gasp 2-2 draw in the previous encounter at Goodison Park last month thanks to a 97th-minute equalizer.
In a boost for the Toffees, attackers Iliman Ndiaye and Dwight McNeil have returned to training on Friday after recovering from injuries.
Ndiaye had found the net in victories against Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton and Hove Albion before being forced off the pitch during the first half of the last Merseyside derby at Goodison due to medial ligament damage, as confirmed by scans.
McNeil, on the other hand, has been out of action since Everton’s 4-0 triumph over Wolves in December, where he exacerbated a knee injury that had previously sidelined him for several matches earlier in the season.
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However, Everton will continue to miss striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, while there are concerns over the fitness of left-back Vitalii Mykolenko who picked up a thigh injury while representing Ukraine during the international break.
Liverpool is set to check on its international stars as it returns to the AXA Training Centre. Alisson Becker was taken off during Brazil’s clash with Colombia due to a suspected concussion, but later reassured fans via social media that he was “doing fine.”
Brazil’s team doctor, Rodrigo Lasmar, explained: “Becker suffered a trauma to the head region, he was replaced by a suspected concussion. Now we will do all the CBF protocol, it will undergo recommended imaging tests, a computed tomography, then a resonance with diffusion. If all the tests are normal, we’ll follow up and do a cognitive test. And then we will evaluate the player.
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“In the possibility that everything is normal, we will make a sequence of observations in the coming days. Today, we will do the tests, all the necessary evaluations. Alisson is normal, with no complaints. He reported no fainting and no memory loss. He thought it was a little slower. In this complaint, the recommended is the replacement of the player.”
In other news, Ryan Gravenberch was withdrawn from the Netherlands squad and his condition is being monitored. Liverpool will be without defenders Joe Gomez (hamstring), Trent Alexander-Arnold (ankle) and Conor Bradley (hamstring) for the fixture against David Moyes’ side, as they continue to recover from injuries.
This opens the door for Jarell Quansah to potentially start at right-back, while Tyler Morton remains sidelined through injury.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Liverpool ECHO by clicking here.
