The 250th Merseyside Derby Will Be In 2027
The 2026-2027 Premier League season will feature the 250th Merseyside Derby. We know that because the 2025-2026 campaign saw both the 247th and 248th league derby take place between Liverpool and Everton, so there is something historic about the arrival of the 250th iteration of the clash.
In actual fact, it could also be considered to be the season in which the 300th derby in all competitions occurs, owing to the fact that the teams have faced off against one another in the likes of the West Region War League, the North Region War League and the Lancashire Section – Principal Tournament in the past. Regardless, it’s something noteworthy.
Liverpool v Everton Head To Head Stats
| Competition | Liverpool Wins | Everton Wins | Draws |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | 102 | 68 | 78 |
| League Only | 85 | 59 | 70 |
| FA Cup | 12 | 7 | 6 |
| League Cup | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Charity/Community Shield | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Screen Sports Super Cup | 2 | 0 | 0 |
As the 250th Merseyside Derby not played during wartime approaches, it is worth considering the statistics of the head-to-head between the two clubs.
Liverpool have been dominant, as you might expect given the success of the side in comparison to their neighbours, with the table above showing how things stack up.
Where the Wins Have Been In The League
| Venue | Liverpool Wins | Everton Wins | Draws |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anfield | 50 | 24 | 33 |
| Goodison Park | 35 | 35 | 37 |
| Hill Dickinson Stadium | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 86 | 59 | 70 |
One of the best things about the 214th league Merseyside Derby was the fact that it took place at Everton’s new home ground, the Hill Dickinson Stadium. The fact that Liverpool ran out as 2-1 winners means that the Blues now need to win two consecutive games between the two clubs there in order to have won more home derbies at the ground than the Reds have managed.
In spite of the fact that Everton played an air raid siren before kick-off, hoisted up a tifo in front of their supporters and sang the songs that have become popular in recent years, they still didn’t do enough to gain a win against their most hated of rivals.
@skysports Virgil van Dijk’s late, late, late header wins thefirst ever Merseyside derby at the Hill Dickinson Stadium! #premierleague #liverpool #VVD ♬ original sound – Sky Sports
With that in mind, here is a look at the history of the worlds most famous derby game over the years.
The History of the Merseyside Derby
Most of us know the history of the two clubs that has caused such tension over the years, starting in 1892 when Everton decided not to pay the increase in rent that John Houlding was asking for for them to remain at Anfield, instead leaving the stadium in order to set up a new home at Goodison Park. Houlding was left with a stadium but no team to play matches in it, which is why he decided to create the team that we know and love today.
In the opinion of some, the decision to break away from Houlding was as much to do with religious differences as anything else, thanks to Liverpool having more Irish blood than many English cities.
@footballontheleft The BT Sports Documentary depicting the history of football and the city of Liverpool is a must watch. #Liverpool #LFC #everton #evertontc #merseyside #merseysidederby #fyp #football ♬ original sound – Football on the left
Houlding was a member of the Orange Order, strongly supporting Unionist ideals, whereas the then Chairman of Everton, George Mahon, supported the idea of Home Rule. The division between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland seemed to reflect the division between Unionism and Republicanism in Liverpool. Regardless, the two clubs came into existence in a fractious manner, which has been mirrored ever since. The first game was played on the 13th of October 1894, which was when Liverpool had been promoted into the top-flight for the first time and the two clubs went head-to-head at Goodison Park.
Today is the 3rd Merseyside derby in history to be postponed after:
January 23rd 1965 – Goodison pitch unplayable due to snow (EFC won the rearranged game 2-1 in April 1965).
October 20th, 1996 – Anfield pitch unplayable due to rain (match rearranged for Nov 1996, 1-1 draw, Wayne Rooney was mascot).— uppergwladysblu.bsky.social (@uppergwladysblu.bsky.social) 7 December 2024 at 09:07
That ended in a 3-0 win to the home side, which was followed up by a 2-2 draw at Anfield, the former home of the Blues. In fact, it took until the September of 1897 before Liverpool managed to put a win into their column, emerging as 3-1 winners at Anfield. In the years that have followed, the Reds have won more games than they have lost against their neighbours, but that certainly wasn’t the case during the sport’s more formative years. The first FA Cup clash came in 1902, when a 2-2 draw was followed up by a 2-0 win for Liverpool at Goodison Park that somewhat set the tone for their future encounters with one another.
The 1980s
If you want to get a real sense of where the rivalry between Liverpool and Everton came from, you need to look at the 1980s. The Reds had become the dominant force in English football during the preceding decade, which went even further during the 1980s. It was the appointment of Howard Kendall as manager that saw Everton emerge as a genuine contender to Liverpool’s crown, even though he lost his first two derbies as manager. The main season that saw the Blues begin to threaten Liverpool’s success was the 1983-1984 campaign, seeing Everton win the FA Cup at the same time that the Reds won the First Division title.
It is the fact that it took a replay in the League Cup for Liverpool to defeat their neighbours that makes the season stand out, although it is the following campaign that saw Everton finally achieve their dream of winning the top-flight title. They not only beat the Reds home and away in the league, they also pipped them to the Charity Shield at the start of the season and took the title with games to spare. Liverpool made it to the final of the European Cup, but their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Juventus was overshadowed by the disgraceful scenes at Heysel Stadium that led to English clubs being banned from European competition.
Everton Bitterness
The ban on English clubs competing in Europe led to Everton being unable to take their place in the European Cup, which is seen by many as the start of the bitterness that Blues tend to feel towards the side that shares the city with them. Prior to then, the Merseyside Derby was seen as the ‘friendly’ derby, which was perhaps best demonstrated during the 1984 Milk Cup final.
It was the first time that the two clubs from the city had gone up against one another at Wembley Stadium, with 100,000 people turning up to see a 0-0 draw play out. It was the unity in the stands that is best remembered, though, with supporters chanting “Merseyside” together.
Two years later and the atmosphere was less cordial as the clubs went toe-to-toe for the First Division title, seeing Liverpool winning it and Everton coming second. The clubs also met in the FA Cup final, with Gary Lineker giving Everton the lead before a double from Ian Rush and a goal from Craig Johnston secured not only a 3-1 win, but also ensured that Liverpool were just the fifth English team to complete a league and FA Cup double.
In the decades since, the hatred of the Reds by Evertonians has only grown, probably not helped by the fact that Liverpool have won every trophy there is to win, whilst the Blues haven’t won one since 1995.
The Good Side of the Rivalry
Whilst anyone that has ever encountered an Evertonian, especially around the time of the Merseyside derby, will doubtless have been given a sense that they are an unwelcoming and angry group of football supporters, the reality is often quite different. In the wake of the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989, for example, Evertonians have always been wonderfully supportive of the work that Liverpool fans have had to put in to getting justice for the 97 people that died.
It certainly helped that Everton were the first team that Liverpool faced in a competitive game after the disaster, which ended in a goalless draw prior to another all-Merseyside FA Cup final.
The 97 will never be forgotten.
Merseyside will always be united. pic.twitter.com/FhEFo41Vhg
— Everton (@Everton) April 15, 2023
Liverpool triumphed 3-2 in that game, but two years later an exhausting 4-4 draw at Goodison Park proved to be Kenny Dalglish’s final game as manager of the Reds. With hindsight, we know that the Scot simply took on too much of the burden of dealing with the aftermath of the Hillsborough Disaster, but rather than take time to grieve and recover his mental health, he stepped away from the club before later returning to win the title with Blackburn Rovers.
In 2007, Everton’s theme of Z-Cars, which was traditionally played before kick-off at Goodison Park, rang out at Anfield in the wake of the tragic death of Rhys Jones, a young Everton fan.
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