The starting line up has already been announced, with Nash making his Everton debut alongside Duffy, Bidwell, Forshaw and Agard who will also be making their first starts for the club with Coleman and Baxter also being given an extra run out in the team.

The experience in the side will come in the forms of Hibbert who will be captain (if he scores on the only home game of the season I’m going to have to miss I’ll be gutted), Osman making his return from injury, Rodwell and Yakubu.

After a summer of investment in the side, the tactical genuis that is Benitez has managed to keep Liverpool’s season going all the way to October. Talks of financial trouble at the club has made Benitez threaten to quit if the club sells Torres (hmm, get £30million for Torres and save £20million for not having to sack Benitez, whatever should you do Mr Hicks?)

This year’s latest signing from Liverpool for the derby is Alan Wiley who has been watching videos of past greats at Melwood like Poll, Thomas and Clattenberg and is hoping to emulate those Kop heroes on Sunday (FollowEverton.com would like to state that some of these comments may be innaccurate).

Both teams go into this game in equally woeful form, however we’ve only lost one home game in the league this season (I didn’t believe it at first either), and Liverpool have lost their last 3 league away games.

Venue: Craven Cottage

Kick Off: 16:15

The international break is finally over and we’re back in action today for the first time since that last minute winner against Wigan.

It seems a long time ago that we were all glued to Sky Sports News and the official site waiting for news of any signings on deadline day, but today will possibly give us a chance to get a proper look at our new signings Bilyaletdinov (not including his cameo against Wigan) and Heitinga, and may well feature Yakubu as he continues his come back.

After finally overcoming our Craven Cottage hoodoo last season it’s strange to go to Fulham thinking we can get a win out of this game, but come this afternoon, with some of our rivals having already recorded good results over the weekend, hopefully we’ll really start to kick our season on and climb up the league with another 3 points.

With the Lescott saga still buzzing around the media, Moyes has thrown down the gauntlet, removed Lescott from the first team and has demanded a performance.  The unprofessional, childish behaviour of Lescott and his poor attitude and lack of effort may have been an excuse when he was in the team, but now he’s out the result tonight, and all the efforts of last season to get us here, lie at the feet of the 11 who go out tonight, no scape goats, no excuses.

We’re still without some key players, a list which now includes Lescott, whilst Fellaini is still getting over for his summer illness and Neville or Rodwell will be making a rare appearance at centre back, but that should mean nothing, whoever plays will be seasoned pros used to playing at the top level, and so a good performance and a good result is not out of reach.

It took us 38 games last year to get here, and I’m hoping the team don’t throw it away in 2 again.

Tell us your predictions and views on the game in our forum.

The summer so far may have been disappointing by our lack of activity, but we come up against an Arsenal side who have lost two key players and not replaced them.  They are arguably weaker now than they were last season, and may well struggle to hold onto 4th, but that’s no reason to be complacent.  One man we know all too well at Goodison and one man who is certain to terrorise our defence is Arshavin, a player who could well prove key not just in the game tomorrow but in the race for 4th.

Today will be the third time under the Moyes era we’ve kicked off our campaign against Arsenal, the previous two times ending in a defeat, defeats which were expected.  However this time we go into this game as an early six pointer.  It may only be the first game of the season, but it could prove crucial in the race for 4th.  Everton could well score an early victory against our main rivals for 4th, and with us, City and United away in the first 6 games for Arsenal, we could well have an early season lead and a big confidence boost, but if the result goes the other way it could spur Arsenal on to a blistering start and see us being forced to play catch up, a position we can’t really afford to be in with a small squad that will likely tire towards the end of the season.

It may only be one game, but it’s a game I’ve been waiting three months to get to, and it’s a game that could set up a successful season for us.

Elsewhere our other main rivals for places are in action.  Aston Villa, still without replacements for two key players Barry and Laursen, come up against Wigan.  Spurs (I don’t know why I’m mentioning them as one of our rivals, but the melted candle faced wheeler dealer and his merry bunch of misfits are apparently in the race for 4th) are in action against the RS, and our beloved Manc billionaires are up against Blackburn.

As we gear up for 2009/2010, share your views on the match on our Match Day Thread and tell us your predictions for the Winners and Losers this season.

Form Guide:
No prizes for guessing whose had the tougher opponents of late, as well as guessing whose had a harder passage to the 5th round of the F.A cup.

Villa have had Doncaster and Gilingham, the former taking the Villans to a replay, and in the league they’ve had fixtures against the likes of Pompey, Sunderland and most recently Blackburn.

Everton on the other hand have had to beat Oldham (hear me out!) and Liverpool in an enthralling replay which ended up with adverts ruining most peoples view of the goal-i’ll tell ya what, someone sat behind one of the Gwladys Street poles got a better view than the armchair folk! On top of these two games against the reds the toffees have faced United Arsenal and the other lot again in the league. The only loss in the last set of fixtures has only come at the hands of a very dogged United side who are arguably running away with the championship.

Team News:
Everton’s Mauroane Fellaini is set to miss the game after cracking a bone in his back.

Jo is cup-tied and so Moyes is hoping that Louis Saha can make a speedy recovery in order to at least warm the bench for some of sunday’s game.

Gareth Barry is suspended for Aston Villa so Steve Sidwell is likely to fill in as captain.

Defender Luke Young should be fit after being withdrawn from the England squad in midweek.

Teams From:
Everton : Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Yobo, Baines, Gosling, Arteta, Van der Meyde, Neville, Osman, Cahill, Rodwell, Fellaini, Saha, Nash, Castillo, Baxter, Jacobsen.

Aston Villa: Friedel, Guzan, Cuellar, Gardner, Davies, Knight, L. Young, Shorey, Reo-Coker, Milner, Petrov, Sidwell, A. Young, Osbourne, Salifou, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Carew, Delfouneso.

Referee

Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Betting:
Everton 6-4
Villa 15-8
draw 9-4

Everton scorers:

to score first:

L Saha 6 – 1
T Cahill 13 – 2
V Anichebe 15 – 2
M Fellaini 8 – 1
J Baxter 10 – 1
M Arteta 11 – 1
L Osman 12 – 1
D Gosling 14 – 1
J Lescott 16 – 1
A Van Der Meyde 18 – 1

FollowEverton prediction:
Optimist – 1-0 -  Everton can get a win over villa, they haven’t for a good few seasons now and their good luck must run out sometime soon…
Pessimist - 1-1 – even though our defense has been immense recently, Aston Villa have pace that can damage the blues.

Everton travel the very short distance to Anfield for the second time in a week having already denting Liverpool’s title hopes after a late Tim Cahill header earned the blues a late equaliser. The Everton stand-in striker equalled Dixie Deans record of 3 goals at Anfield in a Merseyside derby. Many will be hoping he will break the record and get his 4th come Sunday. The last time these teams were drawn in the F.A. Cup it was 1991 and Everton won the 2nd replay 1-0 with Dave Watson scoring the winner. The replay before was the famous 4-4 when Everton pegged Liverpool back 4 times. Everton had received double allocation for the game and sold out their 6,100 tickets in less than 3 days. It should be a good atmosphere in what will be a tense afternoon of football.

Team News
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has hinted he may rest key players ahead of games against Wigan and Chelsea. Pepe Reina, Torres, and possibly Steven Gerrard may be rested. Javier Mascherano and Andre Dossena are both set to be involved.

Everton are likely to name an unchanged side to the team that drew at Anfiled on Monday, Joseph Yobo may be called back into the team but isn’t likely to start

Expected Line-ups
Liverpool
Cavalieri
Carragher
Hyypia
Skrtel
Dossena
Kuyt
Mascherano
Gerrard
Alonso
Babel
Keane

Everton
Howard
Hibbert
Jagielka
Lescott
Baines
Neville
Osman
Arteta
Pienaar
Cahill
Anichebe

Betting
Liverpool 8/11 Draw 12/5 Everton 9/2
Everton 1-0 10/1
Everton 2-1 14/2
Everton 2-0 25/1
Draw 0-0 7/1
Draw 1-1 5/1
Draw 4-4 500/1
Tim Cahill F.G, L.G 9/1
Victor Anichebe F.G, L.G 10/1
Mikel Arteta F.G, L.G 14/1
Leighton Baines F.G, L.G 66/1
My Betting Prediction- Leighton Baines First Goalscorer 66/1

My Match Prediction-
Liverpool look set to rest key players for the league and with Everton in top form and playing well it will take something Gerrard-esque to beat them, If he’s kept quiet then i can see a sneaky win for Everton
Liverpool 0-1 Everton(Baines)

YOU WILL SEE ME IN THE FRONT ROW NEAR THE MIDDLE WITH A BRIGHT YELLOW TOP ON!!! COYB!

By Paul Lopez

10 Years of waiting finally over?

Despite only being a wee boy at the time, the last win at Anfield lives long in my memory. Every visit across the park in recent years has brought anticipation, expectation but on almost every occasion the blue half leave dejected, waiting yet another year to win back the bragging rights of the city. Stronger teams have come since that Campbell goal, but as the blue half of merseyside has strengthened as has the red. Players like Gerrard and Owen both blues as youngsters have graced the Anfield turf and done what no true blue could do and score against the toffees in a merseyside derby.

For us this seems to be the year. As the names came out of the hat many remembered the last time the two scouse titans met back in 91. A more comfortable match would be preferred as even at my young age I doubt my heart could take such a mauling of emotions. Since the 1-1 draw on monday many have thought that this year it could happen. We ran the show with the back line looking almost impenetrable.

It won’t be easy, but it never is. An array of different thoughts must be running through Benitez’s head, the game is there for him to lose. The spainard has already seemingly lost the title challenge after some rather out of the blue comments about Sir Alex Ferguson’s handling of referees. All Liverpool can win now appears to be the F.A cup, and I feel Benitez once again tried some mind games by implying he will field a weakened team tomorrow afternoon, lulling the toffees into a false sense of security? Lets just hope these comments come back to bit him on the bum like the last set did.

by Max O’Collins

Everton go into the 209th Merseyside derby on great form being unbeaten in 5 Premier League games and 6 overall-winning 5 of them games. One man who has been inspirational in them games has been Mikel Arteta.

The Spaniard has been in great form scoring three goals in Everton’s last two Premier League games, two of which were free-kicks against Sunderland and Hull respectively. Another man who has contributed in his own way has been Marouane Fellaini but unfortunately he will miss out on a derby place due to him collecting his tenth booking of the season last weekend against Hull. Fellaini will now serve a two match ban. Everton have not won a derby since that “famous” 3-0 victory in September 2006. Everton have not won at Anfield since 1999 when Kevin Campbell scored in Everton’s 1-0 victory – ten years ago.

Liverpool come into the game after a 0-0 draw with Stoke, after the Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, made some “remarks” about Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager. Rafael Benitez has also rejected a new contract offer from Liverpool which could unsettle the players. And Steven Gerrard may be forgiven for not focusing fully on the game with his trial for GBH on Friday. There has been quite a lot going on off the pitch at Liverpool these last couple of weeks, and this may unsettle the players.

Team News
Everton have Marouane Fellaini suspended and Yakubu, Vaughan, Saha and Valente are all injured. Segundo Castillo, Victor Anichebe or Jack Rodwell are the likeliest to replace Fellaini. Joeseph Yobo is also a doubt.
Liverpool have Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres back from injury and Alvaro Arbeloa is also expected to return while Daniel Agger has a calf injury and most likely won’t play. Liverpool will have a wide selection of strikers to choose from, unlike Everton.

Expected Line ups

Liverpool
Reina
Arbeloa
Carragher
Skrtel
Aurelio
Alonso
Mascherano
Gerrard
Riera
Kuyt
Torres

Everton
Howard
Hibbert
Jagielka
Yobo
Lescott
Neville
Osman
Arteta
Pienaar
Cahill
Anichebe

Betting
Liverpool 8/13 Draw 13/5 Everton 5/1
Everton 1-0 12/1
Draw 0-0 15/2
Draw 1-1 11/2
Everton 2-1 18/1
Draw/Everton 11/1
Everton/Everton 10/1
Tim Cahill F.G 9/1 L.G 9/1
Mikel Arteta F.G 18/1 L.G 18/1
P.Neville F.G 50/1 L.G 50/1

First player to get sent off:
Gerrard 22/1
Carragher 16/1
Cahill 9/1

My Betting tips:
Cahill last goalscorer 9/1

My Prediction
Liverpool 1-1 Everton- Liverpool to dominate possession, grab an early goal and Everton to snatch a point near the end from a set piece from which Everton look most dangerous doing.

Manager Keith Alexander may start with a five-man defence, which was used well after two heavy defeats in the 3-1 win over Chester.

Tim Cahill could continue up front for Everton after Louis Saha’s hamstring injury keeps him out for another month.

Victor Anichebe briefly came on against Sunderland, but it’s likely he will be given a rest to nurse his back injury and be back to full fitness.

Starting Line Ups :

Macclesfield (to Follow later):   Brain, Reid, Jennings, Walker, Hessey , Morgan, Bell, Brown, Dunfield, Gritton, Evans (Formation unkown)

Subs: Towns, Thomas, Rooney, Yeo, Tolley, Brisley, Green

Everton:

Howard

Hibbert Jagielka Lescott Baines

Osman Arteta Neville Pienaar

Cahill

Anichebe

Subs: Nash, Fellaini, Wallace, Kissock, Gosling, Jutkiewicz, Rodwell

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