It wasn’t to be Everton’s night as they fell to defeat in Monday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield.    

For the 242nd meeting between the two sides, Sean Dyche made one change from the team that started the 1-0 victory at home to Arsenal nine days earlier, with Ellis Simms making his first Premier League start since returning from his loan spell at Sunderland last month.    

Despite a solid start from the Blues, a huge piece of fortune put the home side ahead in the first half as a James Tarkowski header hit the post before bouncing fortuitously to help spring a dangerous counter-attack for the home team that led to Mohamed Salah’s opening strike.    

Liverpool doubled the lead after half-tine through Cody Gakpo’s low finish to seal all three points for Jurgen Klopp’s side.    

Despite the result, Dyche would have been more than happy with the start made by his team as they were unphased by an initial raucous atmosphere set by the home crowd, and it was in fact Everton who had the first sight of goal inside five minutes.    

Simms profited from a Joel Matip error, however, his effort from the edge of the box was blocked by the shoulder of Joe Gomez.    

Liverpool's first effort came five minutes later, a tame free-kick from Mohamed Salah right on the edge of Pickford’s box that smashed into the wall and away from danger.    

Despite a solid start from the Blues, a big warning came in the 17th minute when Darwin Nunez’s attempted a speculative overhead kick that turned into a cross and found the head of Cody Gakpo lurking inside the box. The Dutchman’s header flashed wide.    

The attempt galvanised the home side, and Anfield crowd. However, it didn’t translate into any real threat to Pickford’s goal.     

In fact, the next chance of note fell Everton’s way just past the half-hour mark when the ball dropped to Gana Gueye on the edge of the box from a corner, but his struck volley flew high over Alisson’s net.    

Then, a rotten slice of luck broke the deadlock with seven minutes of the half remaining. Tarkowski climbed highest to meet a deep corner from Iwobi. His headed effort struck the bottom of the post and rebounded past the on-rushing Simms.    

From the resulting break, Nunez drove down the left flank before finding Salah unmarked who poked past Pickford.    

The host’s lead was doubled minutes into the second half when the Everton defence failed to clear a Trent Alexander-Arnold low cross that flashed right across Pickford’s goal and into the path of Gakpo to tap home.    

In an attempt to find a response, Dyche introduced Demarai Gray in place of Simms on the hour mark, but it was the home side who looked the more threatening in the opening 20 minutes of the second period.    

The game petered out the longer the half went on, with Everton seeing more of the ball but without being able to convert it into tangible efforts on goal. An attempt to add more penetration for the Blues came with less than 15 minutes remaining as Neal Maupay and Tom Davies joined the action in place of Amadou Onana and Dwight McNiel.    

Davies’ impact was almost immediate, as he drifted toward the back post unmarked to meet a deep Iwobi cross and should have done better as his headed effort went high over the bar.   

A minute later Tarkowski made a brilliant sliding challenge to deny a third for the hosts as Salah bore down on Pickford's goal and looked certain to score.    

England’s No.1 then denied the Egyptian forward with a stunning fingertip save in the dying minutes to keep the deficit at two goals.