Everton visit Anfield in the Barclays Premier League on Monday January 19, kick-off at 20:00 hours (GMT), as both Merseyside clubs prepare for two meetings in the space of a seven days.The Blues make the short trip across Stanley Park for the 209th Merseyside derby, before returning to Anfield to face Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

This season’s only previous meeting between the two teams took place at Goodison Park. The match ended in a comfortable 2-0 victory for the Red half of the city. Fernando Torres struck twice in the second-half to cap a fine display from the striker. The Spaniard slotted the ball between the legs of Everton keeper Tim Howard for Liverpool’s first goal, before doubling the Red’s lead with a shot into the top left-hand corner.

Torres’ match-winning performance grabbed the headlines both home and abroad. Back in Britain, the Independent, the Guardian and BBC Sport all coincided as they praised the two goal striker’s performance in the Merseyside derby; ‘Magical’,’King Torres’, and ‘Killer’ were just some of the words used to describe Fernando’s fine display. Spanish newspaper ‘ABC’ crowned the striker; “Torres, the King of Liverpool”. ‘El País’ and ‘El Mundo’ both described the forward’s contribution as crucial. Daily sports newspaper ‘AS’ labeled Torres, the “High Executioner’; whilst the ‘Mundo Deportivo’ headlined with; “Too much Torres for Everton”.

Since joining Liverpool, Fernando has scored three times versus Everton (the same number of goals as captain Steve Gerrard). Torres is one goal away from Michael Owen’s tally of four, and two behind Kenny Dalglish, who is on five. The overall record is held by Liverpool striking legend Ian Rush, who between 1980 – 1987 and 1988 – 1996, scored an incredible 25 goals.

Should Fernando Torres find the back of the net on Monday, he will become only the third Liverpool player to score in both Merseyside derbies in the same Premier League season. The last player to achieve the feat was Emile Heskey (2000/01) and prior to that, Robbie Fowler scored both home and away in the 1995/96 season. A goal for the Spanish striker would also break another Anfield club record, as no Liverpool player in the history of the club has ever scored four goals in a row in Merseyside derbys.

Sixth-placed Everton are one of the top five most successful English clubs since being founded in 1878. They were founder members of the Football League in 1888 and have contested more seasons in the top flight than any other club. The Toffees have won nine league titles, five FA Cup’s and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, though the Blues have not brought any silverware back to Goodison Park since their last FA Cup triumph in 1995.

Following Monday’s Premier League clash, Liverpool receive Everton on Jan 25 in a repeat of the 1985/86 and 1988/89 FA Cup finals. The Anfield club were victorious on both occasions, 3-1 and 3-2 (aet) respectively.


Photo: J.A. Sirvent