Klopp stirs up mind games ahead of Merseyside derby, says Everton 'too physical'

Whenever Liverpool take on Everton it is always a heated contest, and this time the Merseyside derby is set to be played on December 2 at Goodison Park. Ahead of the fierce match, the Reds' boss Jurgen Klopp has already started playing mind games as he called out Everton for being too physical and said that the 'intensity' of the matches with Everton are just too much for him.

"It's always a completely different game, so I really very often don't like the intensity of the game, it's too much for me," Klopp told Sky Sports after the Southampton win. "I like physical football, I have no problem with that, we play that, other teams play that, but in that game very often people put too much in. I can't say it's my favourite game of the year to be honest, because of that. But we have the chance to watch Everton tomorrow, we will prepare for the game and will try to make a normal but good football game."

Everton vs Liverpool previous seasons' recap

Everton and Liverpool have come up against each other a total of 58 times in the Premier League with Liverpool holding the better record having won 24 of them while Everton have only won 10, the remaining 24 have ended in draws. However, over the last five meetings, Everton and Liverpool have both won one and the remaining have ended in draws. Liverpool have not defeated Everton in the last three fixtures with their last win coming back in December 2019 when they won 5-2 at Anfield. Last season, Everton first played out a 2-2 draw after going behind twice. In the follow-up fixture in February 2021, Everton managed to pull off a massive upset as they defeated Liverpool in their own backyard 2-0 thanks to goals from Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson.

It will definitely be an interesting match-up this time around as both teams will have a point to prove, the Reds will want to get back to winning ways against Everton whereas the Blues will want to prove that the win against Liverpool in last season's fixture was not a one-off thing. Going into the match, Everton are in very poor form having not won a single game in their last five Premier League matches, of which they have lost four games and drawn the other one.

Image: AP