This was unlikely to be the game where David Moyes ended his long wait for a first victory at Anfield. Despite being pushed all the way by an Everton side that, on another night might have got something had they taken their chances, Liverpool underlined their superiority by doing just enough (with a little help from a ridiculous loophole in the rules) to win this latest edition of the Merseyside derby. But it wasn’t as emphatic as the 39 points that separate the two clubs would suggest.

Not for the first time since he returned as Everton manager, Moyes will be ruing a glaring miss by Beto that, had he converted rather than rapping his shot off the post, would have given the Toffees something to hang on to rather than end up chasing the game in the last half hour after Diogo Jota had broken the deadlock.

He will also have made plenty of notes as part of the ongoing analysis of the squad that he and his staff are undertaking ahead of what promises to be a very busy summer transfer window. Some players with imminently expiring contracts will not have helped their cause but, in general, the takeaway was that the Everton that kicks off 2025/26 will need to be much better with the ball at their feet. Industry and the occasional threat on the breakaway will only take you so far.

Ironically, though, had the Blues been able to capitalise on three key counter-attacking opportunities, they might have at least avoided a fourth successive Anfield derby defeat. A fractional delay by Beto in starting his run in one instance, a more composed finish by the Portuguese in another, or better decision-making by Jack Harrison in the third instance might have yielded a precious goal rather than more frustration at Everton’s failings in the final third.

With Vitalii Mykolenko making a surprisingly quick recovery from the injury that forced him out of Ukraine’s Nations League defeat to Belgium last week and Iliman Ndiaye only deemed fit enough to make the bench, the starting XI was in line with expectations. Abdoulaye Doucouré’s legs and work-rate were prioritised over the mercurial and unpredictable talents of Jesper Lindstrøm in combination with Charly Alcaraz in the middle.

The Argentine was again deployed as a square peg in a round hole wide on the left again but he was involved in much of what Everton did positively in the first period, including having the visitors’ first shot in anger with 16 minutes gone, a drive from the left side of the penalty area that was blocked by a Reds defender.

By that stage Liverpool, who, predictably enough, were having the better of the opening exchanges, had had an effort of their own through Jota repelled by Jarrad Branthwaite, seen Dominik Szoboszlai whip a free-kick narrowly wide, and then had their pleas for a red card for James Tarkowski waved away by referee, Sam Barrott. The defender clattered through Alexis Mac Allister with a heavy follow-through that caught the midfielder above the knee and he was fortunate that VAR Paul Tierney didn’t view it as serious foul play.

Struggling to play their way through their hosts, the Blues’ biggest threat was the ball in behind for Beto and when Tarkowski’s arcing punt from deep in his own box dropped over the his head and behind Virgil van Dijk, the striker did well to stretch out a telescopic leg and prod the ball between Caoimhín Kelleher’s legs. Agonisingly, though, the flag went up for offside and stills from the VAR showed that Beto had been marginally offside.

Jota blasted across Jordan Pickford’s goal and wide while Idrissa Gueye allowed Mohamed Salah to ghost in at the back post to test the keeper with a header but in the 33rd minute, it should have been 1-0 Everton. Doucouré picked up the former Udinese man’s knockdown and immediately played him into space in Liverpool’s half. His first touch was loose but Van Dijk made a mess of trying to claim it, giving Beto an open one-on-one chance against Kelleher but though he swept it wide of the goalkeeper, he was dismayed to see his shot crash off the post and back into play.

It wasn’t until the end of the half that either side fashioned another chance, when Pickford was grateful to gather Ryan Gravenberch’s drilled effort after it took a heavy deflection of Tarkowski while, at the other end, the ball sat up nicely for Alcaraz but his shot looped over after striking a defender’s leg.

For all their undoubted superiority in terms of quality, Liverpool still weren’t. causing Pickford too many problems as the game moved towards the hour mark. Mykolenko had been doing his usual job of keeping Salah largely under wraps and the solid defensive shape was preventing the Reds from making inroads into the Blues’ area.

However, after Doucouré had compromised a decent opening with a poor cut-back for Alcaraz that resulted in the on-loan forward’s shot being charged down, Harrison had wasted an even more promising breakaway with an awful pass to no one in the box and Pickford had parried Gravenberch’s strong effort, Arne Slot’s men took the lead.

Of course, it being a derby, it wasn’t without controversy. Luis Diaz was in a clearly offside position when Gravenberch attempted to pick him out with a pass into the Toffees’ area but Tarkowski ensured it wouldn’t reach the Colombian by stretching to intercept. In so doing, though, he allowed Jota to nip the ball away from James Garner, Diaz back-heeled into his path and, after shimmying wide of Branthwaite, the diminutive Portuguese wrong-footed Pickford to slide home.

Afterwards, Moyes was incredulous that the goal had been allowed to stand but, because he had not impeded Tarkowski or blocked his view of the ball, the officials will argue that, by letter of the law, Diaz had not interfered with play. Never mind that his very presence had forced the defender to take evasive action or that he was immediately involved in the play when he touched it back to Jota...

Unfortunately, that was more or less that in what was a largely poor half from Everton. Moyes eventually responded, first by withdrawing the woeful Harrison in favour of Ndiaye and then making a treble change that saw Garner, Beto and, for some reason, Alcaraz depart with Tim Iroegbunam, Armando Broja and Ashley Young coming on. Youssef Chermiti was a later replacement for Doucouré and either side of that, Everton were awarded a handful of set-pieces but were unable to create anything meaningful with them.

So the contest ended with what many would have felt was the most likely outcome — a Liverpool win, albeit a hard-fought one where they rode their luck in the first half and had to be grateful for another miscue in front of goal from Beto.

Where Moyes and Everton are concerned, the visit of Arsenal on Saturday is a relatively quick turnaround and it will be interesting to see whether the gaffer makes any adjustments to the side based on what he saw at Anfield this evening. Looking beyond, the need to add quality in the forward areas won’t be lost on anyone.

Lyndon Lloyd