Everton brutal derby defeat still offers reminder - as did Liverpool team sheet

Virgil van Dijk’s header in the 100th minute left players in Royal Blue slumped on the pitch after a Herculean effort that had looked set to deliver a valuable, deserved point in the battle for Europe.

It was made even tougher to bear given the goal came in the final minutes of a stoppage time made so lengthy because Jarrad Branthwaite was stretchered off late in the game, the centre-back covering his face with his shirt as a season already decimated by injury took another hit.

There were layers to the cruelty dealt to Everton in this match. After a ferocious welcome outside Hill Dickinson Stadium was followed by a stunning South Stand greeting, the Blues started this match with the verve and intensity the occasion required.

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For 25 minutes they harassed Liverpool, snapping into challenges and scrapping for loose balls. It was not just a performance of bite, however, there was creativity, too.

Beto forced Giorgi Mamardashvili into a sprawling early save with a header but then skewed well wide when played through on goal, the striker opting to shoot early rather than improve his angle.

With David Moyes left outraged on the sidelines as referee Chris Kavanagh, in one of several early calls that went in favour of the Reds, waved off appeals for a penalty as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was bundled over by Curtis Jones when through, a crushing inevitability began to loom: Was this once again going to be ‘another’ one of those derbies?

A moment later and after a series of poor passes ended with Dwight McNeil conceding the ball to Cody Gakpo, Salah finished the winger's ball across the box.

The goal came against the run of play and sucked the life out of Everton.

A Liverpool side buckling under the pressure they were being placed under found themselves with a foothold in the match. The Blues needed the break and were grateful when it came.

The opening minutes of the second half were a concern for Everton, who emerged from the tunnel flat. But this is a side that has grown adept at responding to adversity and digging in for unlikely rescue acts.

Key to that mindset has been Dewsbury-Hall, whose stoppage-time goal salvaged an important point at Brentford eight days ago. It was the midfielder who rose to the fore again, holding off Ibrahima Konate and playing a ball across goal that Beto, this time, could not fail to score from.

Suddenly the new stadium had its moment and, with Mamardashvili stretchered off after the sliding Beto and Andy Robertson crunched into him, the Blues had the momentum and the opportunity to put the Reds' third-choice goalkeeper, who was making his Premier League debut, under pressure.

That proved beyond them but for the following 30 minutes they competed with Liverpool in a wild match that moved from end to end in frenetic fashion.

A valuable point looked likely but when Branthwaite crumpled to the ground after an innocuous tussle with Gakpo with fewer than 10 minutes to go, it knocked Everton on and off the pitch.

The 11 minutes of stoppage time were agonising as substitute Thierno Barry struggled to hold the ball up the pitch and the Reds looked increasingly threatening.

When Rio Ngumoha fired over the hope was the Blues could leave with a useful, deserved point. Then came a late corner and the Liverpool captain and a day of promise ended in heartache.

Everton’s ability to suffer torment in these derbies is sickening and this was another bodyblow. But that the pain of this defeat will cut so deep also signifies just how far this team has come in such a short time.

For all the momentum they had going into this fixture, and for all the frailties that had been exposed in the Reds' miserable defence of their title, there was a reason every bookmaker marked Arne Slot's side down as favourites for this game.

Two summer signings in their starting XI cost more than the combined Everton first team and, with that, comes a quality and ruthlessness David Moyes' men still crave.

They are improving, though - a fact that is important to remember as they attempt to pick themselves up for five games of the season that could yet yield a place in Europe.