The Dugout Discussion – Liverpool vs Everton

The day’s events are bookended by two fascinating derby matches. Later this evening we travel to north London as Arsenal host Spurs at the Emirates as the Gunners look to keep pace with the early leaders. Mauricio Pochettino’s ambitions are somewhat more humble: the Tottenham boss endures his first derby clash as Spurs manager as he searches for a foothold following an uninspiring start to the campaign. Saturday begins on Merseyside, however, as red and blue collide at Anfield.

Both teams go into the encounter out-of-sorts, fielding defences that seem likely to surrender plenty of opportunities in the storm of a derby match. Drama, incident and goals look guaranteed, then, with Fantasy managers focused mainly on the output of Raheem Sterling for the home side and Steven Naismith for the Toffees – both are included in the starting lineups.

Elsewhere, Liverpool are without Daniel Sturridge who fails to recover from his recent thigh injury to take his place in Brendan Rodgers’ starting lineup. Lazar Markovic earns a recall to the teamsheet, as Fabio Borini drops out having started in the defeat to West Ham. Adam Lallana is also recalled with Lucas making way to the bench. As for Everton, they are also without a key player as Seamus Coleman remains sidelined with a head injury: Tony Hibbert is in at right-back, his first league start since December 2012. Blimey.

Roberto Martinez also elects to start John Stones alongside Phil Jagielka in the centre of his defence – Sylvain Distin is out of the matchday squad. Muhamed Besic makes a first league start in midfield with Leon Osman and Aiden McGeady benched, with Kevin Mirallas and Naismith returning.