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Lawrenson makes claim about Allardyce, predicts Everton clash v Liverpool
Mark Lawrenson has claimed that Sam Allardyce will not have had much time to train with his Everton squad ahead of their Merseyside derby clash against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Allardyce did not travel to Cyprus this week to take charge of the Europa League fixture against Apollon due to having a medical procedure so left the reins to assistant boss Craig Shakespeare.
Bizarrely, that meant that Everton have had three different managers in their last three matches with David Unsworth taking caretaker charge of the win over West Ham before Allardyce’s first game against Huddersfield last week.
BBC Sport pundit and former Liverpool player Lawrenson has now predicted that his old side will continue their winning run by earning a 2-0 win over Everton this weekend.
“Because of their Europa League tie on Thursday, Allardyce will not have had much time to train with his squad, Everton ship a lot of goals and boy do Liverpool like scoring them at the moment,” he said on the BBC Sport website.
“The Reds record in front of goal is just staggering, as is the amount of chances they are creating at the moment too,
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“It will not be one-way traffic – it is a derby, and I know what kind of games they are – but even if it is a lot tighter, I cannot see Liverpool making lots of chances without taking a couple of them.”
Everton have not won at Anfield since 1995 and have not beaten Liverpool at all in the last seven years when Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta scored in a 2-0 win at Goodison Park in 2010.
Allardyce has no doubt been thrown straight into the deep-end with this game being just his second in the dug-out for the Blues and history suggests that avoiding defeat is perhaps the best target that he can hope to achieve.
Everton are currently 10th in the table going into the game after two wins in a row moved them away from the relegation zone.
However a defeat and a spate of results going against them could see them plummet back down the standings.
In other Everton news, this Toffees 30-year-old is favourite to join a Premier League rival in the January window.
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