Everton midfielder Tom Davies stunned Michael Brown after heading wide a late chance to give his team a lifeline at Liverpool. The Reds beat the Toffees 2-0 in the Merseyside derby.
Mohamed Salah (36’) and Cody Gakpo (49’) secured Jurgen Klopp’s squad their first win of 2023 on Monday night. The result lifted the Anfield outfit into ninth in the Premier League, while the Goodison Park natives remained in 18th and in the relegation zone by one point.
Just 16 seconds separated James Tarkowski hitting the post at one end and Salah breaking the deadlock at the other. The centre-half’s header proved to be one of the better chances that Everton created at Liverpool. The Toffees regularly left Ellis Simms feeding off scraps.
Simms came into the Everton XI at Liverpool for only his second senior start with the team. Sean Dyche backed the 22-year-old with Dominic Calvert-Lewin missing due to a hamstring injury. His only previous start came under Rafa Benitez at Chelsea back in December 2021.
But Everton could not feed the forward the ball often enough to show why Frank Lampard recalled Simms from his loan spell to Sunderland in January. He had scored seven goals in 17 Championship appearances, starting 14, with the Black Cats in the first half of the term.
Davies stunned Brown by wasting Everton’s late lifeline at Liverpool
Dyche would, ultimately, replace Simms with Demarai Gray on the hour before introducing Neal Maupay and Davies for Dwight McNeil and Amadou Onana as Everton targeted a way back at Liverpool. His double switch after 78 minutes also soon led to a chance for Davies.
Immediately after coming on, Alex Iwobi fed Davies in Liverpool’s area with a floated cross Alisson failed to track. But the Everton product could not direct his header on target to the astonishment of Brown. The ex-Manchester City midfielder felt Davies had to make it 2-1.
“That’s a huge chance for Tom Davies,” Brown said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “Back post, he’s got to score. He’s just come on, really fresh and has that energy. [I] can’t believe he heads it wide. That’s a big chance with 80 minutes gone. That would have given them a lifeline.”
Davies has only scored seven and assisted eight goals through 171 first-team appearances for Everton after facing Liverpool on Monday. The 24-year-old last found the back of a net in October 2021. It is also Davies’ only goal over his last 69 games across all competitions.
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