{"id":618067,"date":"2026-04-19T23:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T23:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618067\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T23:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T23:50:11","slug":"virgil-van-dijk-earns-late-liverpool-win-in-first-derby-at-evertons-new-home-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618067\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgil van Dijk earns late Liverpool win in first derby at Everton\u2019s new home | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new \u00a3800m setting for the Merseyside derby contained an old and familiar script. Everton came to christen Hill Dickinson Stadium\u2019s derby debut in style but were devastated by the latest Liverpool show of all, as Virgil van Dijk\u2019s 100th-minute header brought victory, relief for Arne Slot and Champions League qualification a little closer. It was some response to a trying week for the Premier League<\/a> champions.<\/p>\n

The old guard led the way for Liverpool<\/a> once more with Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah on the scoresheet, either side of a Beto equaliser, and the visitors refusing to settle for the point that both teams merited. Liverpool tried to exploit Everton\u2019s vulnerability at set pieces all afternoon, mostly without success, but in the 10th of 11 minutes added on it finally paid off. Van Dijk held off James Tarkowski to convert Dominik Szoboszlai\u2019s corner at close range, and Slot\u2019s prospects of leading Liverpool into next season\u2019s Champions League soared.<\/p>\n

Having exited the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain<\/a> on Tuesday Liverpool would have been forgiven for tiring in the closing stages. But Slot utilised his five substitutions wisely and the visitors seized the initiative late on. David Moyes\u2019 introduction of Thierno Barry and Tyrique George, by contrast, sent Everton\u2019s performance plummeting. Barry was dreadful, his lack of effort in particular a disgrace, and the loss of Beto and Jarrad Branthwaite to injury badly disrupted the home performance. For all the justified criticism that Liverpool have received, they still possess the quality to torment their local rivals in novel ways.<\/p>\n

Urged on by an impassioned home support, the hosts were the better side until Salah produced a bolt from the red to open the scoring. Moyes\u2019s side produced the more controlled, inventive football while Liverpool\u2019s threat came exclusively from corner kicks. They were just warming up, as it turned out.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Salah scores the first Merseyside derby goal at Everton\u2019s Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photograph: Adam Vaughan\/EPA<\/p>\n

Beto forced Giorgi Mamardashvili into a good early save with a glancing header from a James Garner cross. The centre-forward then produced a howler when spinning away from the defence to collect Branthwaite\u2019s long ball. Beto had more freedom than he realised as he bore down on Mamardashvili\u2019s goal and took the shot first time. He sidefooted a dreadful effort in the direction of the corner flag.<\/p>\n

Everton\u2019s main frustration in the opening period centred on Chris Kavanagh\u2019s leniency when the referee refused to book Van Dijk for a late foul on Idrissa Gana Gueye. Jordan Pickford was shown a yellow card instead for his protests. An ambitious penalty claim, when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall went down under a touch from Curtis Jones as they chased Tarkowski\u2019s ball, was rightly dismissed. Moyes insisted it should have been a spot-kick.<\/p>\n

The first half was transformed inside three minutes. The stadium erupted when Jake O\u2019Brien\u2019s cross landed at the feet of Iliman Ndiaye and the Senegal international swept a cool finish home. It was a merited lead and prolonged celebrations ensued. O\u2019Brien, however, was offside when collecting Pickford\u2019s clearance and the celebrations switched to the away corner when the goal was disallowed after a video assistant referee check.<\/p>\n

Beto celebrates scoring Everton\u2019s equaliser. Liverpool\u2019s goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili had to go off after being injured in the incident. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Everton were still stewing over the decision when Liverpool deepened their torment in devastating style. The home side played themselves into trouble deep inside their own half before Dwight McNeil miscued a poor touch straight to Cody Gakpo. The Dutchman was a surprise inclusion ahead of Rio Ngumoha but justified his selection with a superb pass that dissected the Everton defence and found Salah sprinting unmarked into the area on the far side. The Egypt international dispatched a clinical finish under Pickford for his ninth goal in a derby. Only Ian Rush (25) and Steven Gerrard (10) have scored more in the fixture for Liverpool.<\/p>\n

The visitors controlled the remainder of the first half and performed with a confidence in possession that had been missing previously. Gakpo forced Pickford into a finger-tip save from distance and Alexander Isak steered a decent opening from a Florian Wirtz pass straight at the keeper. It was Isak\u2019s only contribution of note before being replaced by Ngumoha in the 72nd minute.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideEverton 1-2 Liverpool key factsShow\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2022 Liverpool have now scored six 90th-minute winners against Everton in the Premier League \u2013 the most one side has against a single opponent in the competition’s history.<\/p>\n

\u2022 At 99:53, Liverpool\u2019s Virgil van Dijk scored the joint-third latest winning goal on record (from 2006-07) in a Premier League match (pictured), after Chelsea v Man Utd in April 2024 (100:41) and Newcastle v Leeds in January 2026 (101:48).<\/p>\n

\u2022 David Moyes has won just four of his 41 Premier League games against Liverpool (D10 L27). His points-per-game rate of 0.54 against the Reds is his lowest against any opponent in his managerial career in the competition.<\/p>\n

\u2022 In his final Merseyside derby, Liverpool\u2019s Mo Salah equalled Steven Gerrard’s nine goals to be the joint-top scoring player in this Premier League fixture.<\/p>\n

Photograph: Nick Potts\/PA<\/p>\n

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Liverpool\u2019s authority did not last long into the second half. Everton drew level when Dewsbury-Hall swept a dangerous cross along the face of the Liverpool goal. Beto, holding off Andy Robertson, arrived first to slide home the equaliser. The striker collided with Mamardashvili on the follow-up and the goalkeeper was eventually taken off on a stretcher with a wounded knee. Slot was forced to hand a first league appearance for the club to his third-choice keeper, Freddie Woodman, who was never seriously tested.<\/p>\n

Beto later departed with a head injury and, with Barry inept, the danger from Everton went with him. Branthwaite was carried away in tears after sustaining what appeared to be a recurrence of a serious hamstring injury. The derby was petering out but, of course, there had to be a sting. Van Dijk, the strongest man in the box, delivered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new \u00a3800m setting for the Merseyside derby contained an old and familiar script. Everton came to christen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-618067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}