Liverpool’s win over Everton in Merseyside derby highlights gulf between local rivals

Liverpool’s bid for the quadruple goes on and they may also get the additional bonus of accelerating Everton’s slide towards relegation after a 2-0 win at Anfield in the 240th Merseyside derby.

Frank Lampard’s Everton must mount a dramatic revival in the final month of this campaign to ensure that the 241st edition of this 128-year-old fixture will take place in the Premier League next season.

But this game was what a football rivalry boils down to when one team is up and the other is down. Liverpool could win everything there is to win this season, but Everton are now desperately battling to avoid being relegated from the top division for the first time since 1951. They are poles apart, and Liverpool’s goals from Andy Robertson and Divock Origi could have big implications for both sides over the weeks ahead.

“Everton did what they had to do, but we deserved the three points,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. “If anybody thinks we fly through these games, I can apologise: It won’t happen.”

“If we can create atmospheres like today, it’s difficult to deal with us for 95 minutes, but thank God the game has two halves because we didn’t play particularly well in the first half.”

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Enduring Liverpool’s success has been tough enough for Evertonians in recent years, but imagine how it will feel this time around if the Reds bag all four trophies and the Blues end up relegated to the EFL Championship, with this defeat at Anfield leaving Everton in the bottom three for the first time since December 2019.

And add in the fact that the two sets of supporters really don’t like each other — some of the chants aired at Anfield highlighted the animosity that has grown since the days when it was dubbed the “Friendly Derby” in the 1980s — and it was definitely a case of fear and loathing on Merseyside.

The fear was felt on both sides, with the…