Darwin Nunez is growing in stature, and Mo Salah is still the King of Anfield… but Everton’s centre-back partnership gives Sean Dyche a reason to be cheerful – FIVE TALKING POINTS from the Merseyside Derby

• Liverpool shattered Everton’s hopes of overturning the deficit in 2-0 victory 
• The 10-man Toffees were hampered by the first-half sending off of Young 
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’ 

Liverpool ensured Everton’s record of not winning a league game in front of a crowd in the 21st century continued as two second-half Mo Salah goals punished the 10-men Toffees, who had earlier had Ashley Young sent off.

Here are five talking point from the latest iteration of the Merseyside derby. 

Darwin evolving aside from finishing

Jurgen Klopp said towards the end of last season that Darwin Nunez’s ‘golden ticket’ to the starting XI at Liverpool was to work harder off the ball and become more of an all-round player in the build-up.

He is definitely doing that, with his assist in stoppage time to win this fixture his sixth of the season. Almost unbelievably, each of those six assists have been for Salah, plus two more last term.

Darwin Nunez is steadily silencing his critics after his move to Liverpool at the start of last season

The Uruguayan striker played a role in both of the Reds’ goals on derby day at Anfield

In just 28 minutes on the pitch here, Nunez had 18 touches, attempted 12 passes – including one key pass for Salah’s goal, which also went down as a big chance created and assist. It was a fine substitute performance and he caused all sorts of problems for Everton’s tired back line.

Nunez is not just excelling for Liverpool this season, but also Uruguay, and he is undoubtedly being helped by the tutelage of national team boss Marcelo Bielsa, formerly of Leeds of course. Nunez scored and assisted in a famous first win over Brazil for 22 years this week.

After a slow start to life on Merseyside, it feels like Nunez has turned a corner and is ready to play a pivotal part in a title race for Liverpool, who went top for a few hours at least with this win in the early-kick off.

Salah loves Anfield… why would he leave?

There was a reason why Liverpool turned down approaches of more than £150million for a player in his 30s this summer, when Saudi Arabia came begging for star man Salah in August, and his early-season performances have shown why.

It feels like Salah has not been perhaps scoring as frequently this season as in others, but he ended this match just a goal behind Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race. He also has four assists for the campaign.

Salah has always had a knack of scoring big goals when Liverpool needed him and both of these did just that. The first came after one started to wonder if Everton could continue to frustrate the Reds and see out a well-fought point, then the second put the game to bed.

A question mark continues to hang over the next destination for Mo Salah but he remains beloved at Liverpool

Salah has now either scored or assisted in each of his last 13 Premier League appearances for Liverpool at Anfield (14 goals, three assists). Only Alan Shearer (runs of 18 and 17) and Thierry Henry (17) have ever done so in more consecutive home appearances in the competition.

He now has seven goals against Everton in the Premier League, behind only Steven Gerrard’s nine for Liverpool – and you would be a fool to bet against him catching the former Reds captain in the next few meetings.

Referees under the spotlight again

This was a game decided upon three big refereeing decisions. The first came towards the end of the opening period when Ashley Young was shown a second yellow card and sent off for two silly fouls, the latter on Luis Diaz with a bit too much force.

That was a correct decision and Young, 38, looked more like the most inexperienced player on the pitch rather than the veteran who has been playing in the top divisions for two decades. He let his side down.

But if Young was given his marching orders, Ibrahima Konate should have followed him towards an early bath. Just after the hour mark, the French defender was spun by Everton substitute Beto and the Portuguese striker had a decent chance to run in behind.

A risky challenge by Ibrahima Konate almost brought the teams back to parity but he survived a booking

Konate tugged him to the ground when already on a yellow card. The whole of Anfield probably expected Craig Pawson to reach back into his pocket and reproduce the yellow-then-red combo he had done so for Young. But no booking followed.

Everton fans in the Anfield Road End, and manager Sean Dyche, were rightly furious. At that point, they were definitely second best in the contest but Liverpool were hardly creating chances at will. The lack of a red card on Konate might have swung this contest out of Everton’s hands.

Seconds later, Joel Matip was sent on as Konate was substituted, with Klopp clearly fearful. And minutes after that, Pawson again missed a clear infringement when Michael Keane handled the ball in the penalty area.

Luckily for Klopp and Co, VAR was working this week, and the penalty was given, with Salah stepping up to score. Dyche said: ‘I don’t like the modern rules but they are the rules, it’s going to get given.’

Calvert-Lewin blunted by dominant Van Dijk

Dyche had spent the week discussing how Dominic Calvert-Lewin was finally nearing peak physique after a torrid time with multiple injuries. The striker has looked back to his best at last after missing 46 of 76 games in the last two full Premier League seasons.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been talismanic for Everton but Virgil van Dijk (right) kept the forward quiet on the road

But this was a bit of an anonymous game for Calvert-Lewin and he was often isolated up top. Abdoulaye Doucoure, who has thrived in recent weeks playing just off the striker, had to also do a lot of defensive dirty work here and he was often not close enough to Calvert-Lewin, who struggled and was brought off for Beto not long into the second half.

Everton’s game plan was clearly to send direct balls towards Calvert-Lewin but he was bullied by Virgil Van Dijk. The Liverpool captain won 10 aerial duels – at least double the amount of any other player who started the match.

Dyche changed his system to 5-3-1 at half-time and they offered little in terms of attacking prowess, with wide duo Dwight McNeil and Jack Harrison making way. It meant that as soon as Liverpool went 1-0 up, this felt like game over.

James Tarkowski (left) and Jarrad Branthwaite formed a sturdy partnership to mostly neutralise the Liverpool threat

Branthwaite’s calmness on the ball seemed to herald Everton turning a corner, but it ultimately wasn’t to be

…but central defenders shine again

One of the shining lights of Everton’s season has been defender Jarrad Branthwaite and he shone again here, making a formidable duo with on-pitch captain James Tarkowski, who had his best game of the season.

He made five blocks – at least two more than any player on the pitch – to take him to 15 for the season, which is more than any man in the Premier League. Tarkowski threw his body on the line time and time again as Everton held firm for an hour.

The pair looked calm on the ball and Diogo Jota, who led the line for Liverpool for much of this match, had a quiet afternoon. Clean sheets have been a rarity for Everton this season but they seemed to have turned a corner in that regard, despite this ultimately ending in defeat.

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