Joe Gomez was terrific as Liverpool beat Everton 1-0 in Sunday’s dramatic Merseyside derby to keep their Premier League title hopes alive.
Few are talking about Joe Gomez in the aftermath of Sunday’s Merseyside derby with between Liverpool and Everton on Sunday.
This is not the defender’s fault, however. Thanks to Jordan Pickford’s howler, Divock Origi’s 96th minute winner and Jurgen Klopp’s wild-eyed celebration, Gomez’s performance has fallen well down the pecking order of talking points.
But the England international’s heroics didn’t pass Garth Crooks by. The BBC’s long-serving curmudgeon has included Gomez in his Team of the Week, pointing to his dramatic goal-line clearance to deny Andre Gomes a certain strike in the first-half at Anfield.
It was the sort of heroic defending that has Crooks comparing Gomez to a pair of Chelsea and England legends.
“How the England centre-back kept the ball out of Liverpool’s net with Allison beaten during Sunday’s game with Everton, I will never know,” Crooks wrote.
“Gomez is starting to display a sixth sense when it comes to the dangers in and around his own penalty area. Defenders such as Ashley Cole and John Terry had it, and so does this lad.”
It is hard to believe now that the 21-year-old was struggling for game time when Klopp initially took over at Anfield, largely in part to a serious cruciate ligament injury that forced him to wait patiently in reserve.
But Gomez has established himself as Virgil Van Dijk’s first choice centre-back partner after Dejan Lovren’s belated return from World Cup duty.
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