Liverpool held to a drab 0-0 draw by Everton in Carragher's final derby

In Jamie Carragher’s 30th and final Merseyside derby, he was involved in what was possibly the most boring and drab derby in recent times. Liverpool and Everton played out an uncharacteristically unspirited 0-0 draw that all but confirmed that Everton would finish above their arch-rivals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1937, not counting the Reds’ stay in the second division in the early 60s.

The Reds named an unchanged starting eleven from the side that drubbed Newcastle last week, while Everton made only one change, with Darren Gibson replacing Nikica Jelavic. The match started doggedly, with Daniel Sturridge having the first shot inside five minutes. The Reds soon started to gain a foothold of the derby and took control, but failed to capitalise on it. It was the Toffees who went the closest first, only for Maroune Fellaini to strike Leighton Baines’ cross wide of the post.

Liverpool would have a better offensive edge to their play, getting the better of the chances, but were frustrated by the stubborn Blue defence, with Phil Jagielka playing a splendid game. Jagielka made a couple of crucial blocks of Steven Gerrard and Phillipe Coutinho to keep the score level, while Sturridge plundered a few chances before the interval.

The Reds easily had the better of the first half, but the Toffees held out strongly, and so did the home defence when Everton came calling, with the away side unable to create anything from two free-kicks from Leighton Baines.

The Reds should’ve scored soon after the interval, but Sturridge missed a fantastic opportunity after being setup brilliantly by Coutinho. He tried to go around Tim Howard, only for the goalkeeper to smother the attack, and for Sturridge to belt another shot into the side netting after being setup by Coutinho again.

The crowd was rather quiet for such a huge match, and failed to really come alive, and Everton were defending smartly as well. However, they soon had a goal disallowed, which was the only real talking point of the match. The referee had blown the whistle when Everton were taking a corner for a foul by Victor Anichebe on Pepe Reina, only for Sylvain Distin to head the ball into the net seconds later. Anichebe was yellow carded for his protests, and replays seemed to lean into Everton’s favor.

The match would pass on without any real intention or bite, as most of the play was stuck to the middle of the park, and both defences enjoyed a field day. Gerrard had a glorious chance late on, after being played by Sturridge. Gerrard took the ball past Howard and tried to tap it in from a narrow angle, but Distin was able to get the block in due to the lack of power on the ball. The substitutes failed to make a real difference, and Liverpool even switched to a three-man defence to get a goal, but were unsuccessful in their ventures.

Ultimately it finished 0-0, with Everton staying five points ahead of Liverpool, and was probably a fair result. Defeat would’ve been cruel to Everton, as they defended admirably and are almost guaranteed to finish above their Merseyside rivals again.