Mersey derby may make or break city rivals

SOCCER ANGLES:Liverpool and Everton are both going through slumps and a loss for either side in tomorrow's Premier League clash could lead to doom

THERE WILL be goals. That much would appear to be guaranteed. Neither side can defend that well. Statistics are generally best avoided but some whiz yesterday offered up the fact that together Everton and Liverpool lost 11 of 76 Premier League matches last season. This season it is 11 of 26.

But beyond that tame prediction of more to follow, what else can be said with confidence about the futures, short- and long-term, of Everton and Liverpool after their derby-day meeting at Goodison Park tomorrow? They will go on, of course, but where to? Liverpool will slope off into the Europa League this season and hope that a pick-up in form takes them back into the top four by May. Then they can start again; Rafael Benitez would still be the manager in all likelihood, Fernando Torres would stay at Anfield, probably. And off we go.

That’s the upbeat scenario. The opposite is that this is a squad assembled by Benitez simply not equipped for the fight that is the Premier League.

Worst-case is that Liverpool fail to get back into the top four and cede not just a Champions League place to the likes of Tottenham or Aston Villa, but also critical momentum. Then Torres asks for a transfer, Steven Gerrard loses the head and the club turns in on itself.

But Everton? Would there be anything as dramatic either way? Could there be? Everton seem to have been punching above their (financial) weight for so long, it has even made us weary.

It felt like it was only a matter of time before a result came along that brought a thump of exasperation from David Moyes. Sure enough, on Wednesday night at Hull those cold eyes of Moyes flashed with anger and irritation.

Three-nil down to anyone at half-time pepped up the rumour, and it was “just a rumour”, that Moyes was at the end of his tether. He would be off.

This felt unrealistic, not least because Moyes signed a new five-year €3.3 million per annum contract last October. (The chances of Moyes walking away from his post would first depend on his agent’s kidnap.) There are other reasons. Although this will be recalled as the Everton season that began with an opening-day 6-1 hammering at home to Arsenal, what had preceded that – barring the Joleon Lescott-Manchester City charade – was an outbreak of optimism around Goodison.

The squad that had finished fifth last season, and which was 1-0 up in the first minute of the FA Cup final against Chelsea, was having some defensive experience added in the wake of Lescott’s departure: Sylvain Distin, Lucas Neill and John Heitinga.

There was already an experienced core put together over several seasons by the talented Scot. Then there’s the likes of Jack Rodwell to savour.

But injuries have not been kind. Mikel Arteta, who so often sets the tone, has not played since February. Phil Jagielka, so solid since his move from Sheffield United, has not been on the pitch since April.

These are major handicaps and while all clubs have them, these injuries are of disproportionate importance to Everton.

When they return, who knows what state the rest of the club will be in. Moyes said after Hull that rather than looking at the top four, his players should start thinking about the bottom three.

That could be the use of dramatic effect: Everton are four points above third-bottom Bolton and only five off Liverpool in seventh. But Hull – “up there with the worst performances in my time here” – followed a flat effort at Old Trafford. Six goals conceded in five days.

Liverpool, as has been established, are hardly the team of all the talents, but tomorrow’s game is a 50/50 call.

Lose it and Everton travel to Athens for an uninspiring Europa League game on Wednesday knowing that the next two league games are Tottenham and Chelsea. Spirits would be low then indeed.

The derby also arrives at the end of a week when Everton’s new Kirkby stadium plans were earmarked for demolition.

This was seen as a setback on Thursday but by yesterday Moyes was talking optimistically about the prospect of new investment now Everton had at last had an answer, even a negative one.

“I don’t think I’d have bought Everton when they were in the situation of will they get Kirkby, won’t they get Kirkby,” Moyes said. “If there are any buyers out there, this may well force them out of the woodwork.”

However, if there is no intervention stage left – and they have been waiting a while at Goodison – Moyes will have to go on building, brick by brick, season after season.

St Ledger clings on to dream

WHILST stewing in his Teesside hotel room thinking about how Middlesbrough can rekindle the feeling that a serious automatic promotion campaign should feel, well, automatic, Sean St Ledger has spent the last 10 days “clinging on”.

The world may have moved on from its nanosecond thought that France-Ireland could be replayed due to the handball, but not St Ledger.

“I am still clinging on to this meeting of Fifa and that they will say ‘put back the World Cup draw, there is going to be a replay’,” St Ledger said on Thursday.

“There is a part of me that is clinging on to it, but realistically that is not going to happen. But let’s see what happens with this meeting. It will be interesting. We will see what Sepp Blatter has to say. He has got a big opinion on everything and yet he has come out with nothing since the game, other than a statement from Fifa.”

Why Fifa would alter next Friday’s finals draw to accommodate this logistical difficulty, St Ledger is not exactly sure. As he said, he is “clinging on”. And as he added: “I have had time on my own in my hotel.”

Sunderland must prove consistent

TYPICAL Sunderland. That was Roy Keane’s description of how he felt fundamentally about the club he still managed a year ago. They would win impressively one week, then lose unimpressively the next. Up, down, up, down. Yo-yo.

Keane did not like that and he was not the only one. Try being from Wearside.

He had a point. So when Sunderland go to Wigan today, there is an expectation. Wigan lost 9-1 at Spurs last Sunday, 24 hours after Arsenal lost at the Stadium of Light. The expectation is that Sunderland will lose at Wigan.

This is Steve Bruce’s task, to alter such expectation. That is why, if Sunderland win today, it will not be seen as a small victory locally.