(Credit: Imago)

Evan Shaw

Sun 19 April 2026 16:15, UK

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Everton saw their European hopes take a major blow as they were beaten 2-1 by their bitter rivals Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.

The Toffees met the Reds for the first time at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium home, but they slipped to a stoppage-time defeat against their old enemies.

Mohamed Salah put the visitors ahead with a 29th-minute goal in his final Merseyside derby, before Beto bundled the ball home early in the second half to earn a point for the hosts.

It was a typically fiery clash between the two city rivals, and referee Chris Kavanagh had plenty to do throughout the 90 minutes, which culminated in Virgil van Dijk heading home the winner 10 minutes into stoppage time.

With that in mind, Football Insider picks out three errors from the man in the middle as Everton stemmed Liverpool’s recent dominance in the derby.

Jordan Pickford extremely unfortunate in Virgil van Dijk incident

Kavanagh had clearly intended to keep his cards firmly in his pocket in the early stages of the game, but he felt obliged to brandish the first yellow of the afternoon to Jordan Pickford in the 23rd minute.

The England goalkeeper was booked for vehemently protesting the referee’s decision after a heavy challenge from Virgil van Dijk on Idrissa Gueye.

The Liverpool captain was late into his tackle on the veteran midfielder, and he dumped him on the floor as the Senegal international spun away from his clutches.

Pickford came sprinting out of his goal to make his feelings on the decision known to Kavanagh, but that quickly backfired for the England international.

He was unsuccessful in his attempts to argue that Van Dijk should have gone into the referee’s book and succeeded only in earning himself a caution.

However, he could certainly count himself extremely unlucky with the incident, as it could be argued that he would never have reacted in that manner had Van Dijk received the yellow that his tackle warranted.

Everton fume over Ryan Gravenberch fouls

Kavanagh’s attempts to avoid throwing out cautions in the early stages were quickly called into question, as Everton’s players were left fuming after a tackle from Ryan Gravenberch in the 10th minute.

Gueye was again the man who was felled, as his Dutch opponent cut short his efforts to mount a counter-attack after a Liverpool set-piece, by tripping him up in a moment that showed little attempt to win the ball.

Gueye was still inside his own half when Gravenberch brought him down, but a profitable situation could easily have developed for the Toffees had he been able to move the ball on.

Everton’s players protested that their opponent should have received a yellow card for stopping the counter-attack, while there was also a similar level of frustration in the stands.

That was Gravenberch’s second foul inside the opening 10 minutes of the encounter, and for that reason alone, he was lucky not to go into the book.

David Moyes raging over Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall penalty appeal

David Moyes was left exasperated on the touchline in just the 12th minute of the action, as he felt that his team should have been awarded a penalty after a foul on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall inside the box.

The attacking midfielder latched onto a long ball over the top of the visitors’ backline, and he was bundled over by Curtis Jones before he could direct an effort towards goal.

Kavanagh quickly waved away the appeals from the Toffees, while VAR also agreed with his judgement, although Jones could certainly count himself lucky that the incident didn’t receive more scrutiny from the officials.

He challenged from the wrong side of the ball and appeared to come through the body of Dewsbury-Hall, with many similar incidents having resulted in penalties this season.