Liverpool sunk Everton tonight in the third round of the FA Cup as they ran out 2-1 winners at Anfield. Here are our Liverpool player ratings.
We have played better games this season but nobody cares about that tonight. A win in an FA Cup Merseyside derby is all we wanted and it is what we got.
There were two names everyone was looking for before the game. Sadio Mane was away in Ghana collecting his second place award in the African Footballer of the Year and was unsure if he would play. With Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho missing with injury it was crucial to have him back.
The other one Reds were delighted to see was the debut of record transfer Virgil van Dijk. The big man got the nod to partner Joel Matip in defense. Loris Karius rotated in for Simon Mignolet and Andrew Robertson returned after resting against Burnley.
Roberto Firmino and James Milner were the other two players to come in from New Year’s Day winning side.
A dubious penalty – well, they had one in December – got us up and running. We should have been 2 or 3 up by the time Gylfi Sigurdsson equalized on the counter attack. But Virgil van Dijk got a dream start by nodding home the winner in front of the cup with 5 minutes left.
Derby day team news...@VirgilvDijk makes his #LFC debut. pic.twitter.com/oUkuYnZhLJ
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 5, 2018