Liverpool takes the win in cagey Merseyside derby
Ryan Gravenberch scored one and set up another as Liverpool continued its winning start to the Premier League season by claiming a 2-1 win over Merseyside rival Everton.
Gravenberch was the star of the show during a rampant opening 30 minutes for Liverpool at Anfield, where David Moyes's long wait for a league win continues.
Dutch international Gravenberch hooked over Jordan Pickford from Mohamed Salah's delicate cross in the 10th minute before turning provider for Hugo Ekitike, who was preferred to Alexander Isak in Arne Slot's starting XI, to double Liverpool's lead.
Having relied on late goals to win previous matches this season, Liverpool might have feared it would need to create more last-gasp magic when Idrissa Gueye dragged Everton back into it with a blistering strike in the 58th minute.
Substitute Florian Wirtz was thwarted by a last-ditch James Tarkowski tackle, but much of the late pressure was applied by Everton, albeit to little avail, with Jack Grealish seeing a volley sail off target.
It is now five wins from five top-flight matches for reigning Premier League champion Liverpool, which has achieved such a feat for just the fifth time in its history, while Everton suffered a first defeat since losing to Leeds United on 19 August (AEST).
Moyes and Grealish were left frustrated by some of the referee's decisions during the match.
Moyes felt Everton did not deserve to walk away from Anfield empty-handed, questioning some of the officiating, including a booking for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for a quickly taken free-kick in the second half.
"We were much closer. The performance in the second half warranted us to get something, but we gave too much in the first half," Moyes said.
"The boys never gave up and showed a great deal of resilience.
"The bigger thing is the game seemed to be controlled by the referee; we couldn't start anything quickly. We couldn't play.
"I have had played plenty of games where teams have taken quick free-kicks and it hasn't been the referee's whistle.
"He never allowed us to get the game underway fast when we wanted to. I found it strange there was only three minutes [of stoppage time]. If Liverpool were 2-0 down, I'm not sure if three minutes would have been put up."
Grealish, who has impressed since making the switch to Everton on loan over the summer, was at the forefront of its attempted fightback, creating three chances and putting in five crosses – both game highs.
He echoed Moyes's frustration and hailed Everton's improvement in the second half.
"It [the Merseyside derby] was what I expected, coming here it was hostile, faster," Grealish, who was booked after the full-time whistle for his protests to the referee, said.
"I don't think we played well at all, really, in the first half, and then we lost the game. Frustrating because if we had played like we did in the second half, pressed like that from the start, it would have been a different game. In the end, we couldn't get that last goal.
"It was a bit frustrating in the second half. They're trying to slow the game down at times, and I've never seen a player in my whole life get booked for taking a quick free-kick. Even the stoppage time, three minutes and one minute, I've never seen that.
"I get that sometimes you want to let the game go. I completely get that, but you can't not give something for us, and then two seconds later, one of their defenders gets touched in the back, and they go down, and then he gives it. You can't do that."
Liverpool boss Arne Slot, meanwhile, insisted he does not have a selection headache over Ekitike and Isak.
"There's no headache at all," he said when asked about the two strikers. "These two players are very happy we have them both.
"Both of them know it's very hard for them to play three times 90. Hugo is 23 and comes to a new intensity league. You can see the ones who are used to that – Virgil [van Dijk], Ryan, Mo [Salah]. But for the new ones, you can see that's harder.
"Alex is far from ready to play 90. We are trying to bring him there as long as he stays fit. It's nice that you can ask me this question about any position."
