Liverpool’s Dutch midfielder #38 Ryan Gravenberch (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on September 20, 2025. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP)
Liverpool preserved their flawless Premier League record and tightened their grip on the Merseyside rivalry, edging out Everton 2-1 to forge a commanding six-point advantage at the summit.
Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike struck early for the title holders, capping a commanding opening period that secured a fifth straight league triumph.
Yet, Arne Slot’s squad faltered post-interval, clinging to their lead after Idrissa Gueye’s fierce strike hauled Everton back into the fray.
The Reds had relied on stoppage-time heroics in their prior four domestic outings and a midweek Champions League scrap with Atletico Madrid.
Here, though, Liverpool dispatched most of their threats within the opening half-hour, ensuring Everton’s drought at Anfield—winless before a packed house in the 21st century—persists.
Slot opted to rest his blockbuster £100 million ($135 million) acquisitions, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, on the sidelines. The choice paid dividends, with Alexis MacAllister rejoining Dominik Szoboszlai and the standout Gravenberch to forge a seamless midfield engine.
Just nine minutes in, the Dutch dynamo slotted home a slick half-volley off Mohamed Salah’s pinpoint delivery to ignite the scoreboard.
Salah nearly doubled the fun seconds later, his thunderous left-footed drive whistling inches past the upright.
Everton arrived buoyed by four matches without defeat, fueled by Jack Grealish’s revival on loan from Manchester City.
The winger orchestrated their sharpest pre-break raid, threading a ball to Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, whose angled shot sailed harmlessly astray.
Liverpool hit back emphatically via a fluid counter, Ekitike coolly dinking Gravenberch’s through-ball between Jordan Pickford’s legs for his third tally in five top-flight appearances following his switch from Eintracht Frankfurt.
The restart flipped the script entirely, as Liverpool teetered on the brink of squandering a two-goal cushion—for the fourth time this campaign against Bournemouth, Newcastle, and Atletico.
Midweek exertions appeared to sap their legs, with the whistle blowing barely 60 hours after Virgil van Dijk’s last-gasp Atletico decider.
Everton clawed a path back just shy of the hour, Grealish’s lofted flag-kick redirected for Gueye to rifle beyond Alisson Becker.
Slot summoned Wirtz and Isak in a bid to reclaim the reins, but momentum eluded them.
Still, the hosts weathered a fraught finish, saddling Everton’s David Moyes with a grim milestone: 23 winless Anfield pilgrimages as an opposing Premier League tactician, the bleakest such streak in the division’s annals.
