Everton's win at Sunderland last night sets up a third Merseyside Derby of the season, this time at Wembley in the FA Cup semi final. It's the first time the teams have met there since the FA Cup final of 1989, just a month after the Hillsborough tragedy and this time they will meet a day before the anniversary of that fateful day. Of all the opponents we could face so close to such an anniversary Everton, our neighbours, are probably the most appropriate.
The matches between the two clubs have often been dubbed 'the friendly derby' but in the last couple of decades this hasn't really been the case and where the two sets of fans once stood side by side there is now a bitter divide. It's been debated in depth why this has happened, both sides blaming the other, and I'm not going to add too much to it here, there's very little that hasn't already been said. Suffice to say I'm sure it's Everton's fault.... When the two sides meet in the league the stat regularly trotted out is that there have been significantly more red cards in this fixture than any other in premier league history, a good example of how the game isn't as 'friendly' as it was.
There were alot of Red fans wanting Everton to come through against Sunderland and relish the opportunity to beat them in such a showpiece event, just as there were many hoping Sunderland knocked them out, of all the teams we could lose to at Wembley Everton would be bottom of our wanted list. Everton deserved their win last night and the stage is set for a cracker in London. Incidentally both clubs have been allocated approximately 32,000 tickets for the game, meaning the game could easily fit into the capacity of Old Trafford, saving thousands of pounds of petrol money, thousands of travel hours and not to mention the environmental effects of 64,000 plus people travelling 200 miles rather than 40. But as long as the FA gets it's pockets lined eh?
We've had two fairly straightforward victories against the blues in the premier league this season and for some reason this worries me, it's rare to play against any side three times without them causing you any problems. I'm sure the league games will have no bearing on the semi final and both teams will be fully focused and concentrated on progressing. It's a strange game as winning a derby is not the victory itself, it's just a step towards winning the competition and victory for either side will mean little if they can't turn over the winners of the other semi between Spurs and Chelsea. Both sets of supporters will be confident going into the match, Liverpool fans will point to the two league wins as a good indicator of superiority and Everton fans will take heart from our stuttering form of late as well as an upturn in their results.
It's not an easy game to call the outcome of but it's an exciting fixture, certainly one that sparks interest form outside of the two clubs and keeps both clubs seasons alive given they have nothing really left to play for in the league. It's not just about winning a trophy, it's about stopping your rivals winning a trophy aswell. For Liverpool it's a great opportunity to come out of a disappointing league season with a second trophy. People remember Arsenal winning both domestic cups in the same season in the 90's but nobody remembers where the Gunners finished in the league that season (10th), trophies are more memorable than a mediocre league performance and let's hope we can bring home another one.
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