A NEW era of Merseyside derbies begins this weekend. It will be the 247th competitive meeting between Liverpool and Everton in competitive matches, and the 213th in English football’s top division, the country’s second most-played top-flight match after Aston Villa versus Everton (215), but there is now a new dynamic.

A fixture steeped in history has a fresh feel to it following Everton’s move from Goodison Park, their home for 133 years, to their new stadium on the banks of the River Mersey at Bramley-Moore Dock.

Though this match takes place at Anfield, Everton’s home from 1884–1892 and Liverpool’s since the club’s founding in 1892, it will be the first in which the visiting team has not made “the trip across Stanley Park,” which separates Anfield and Goodison Park, so it still has relevance to Everton’s stadium move.

The increased capacity at Everton’s new ground, 52,769 compared to Goodison Park’s 39,572, and its location closer to the city centre and its transport systems, means Everton blue now has a much bigger presence in the city on home matchdays.

Liverpool fans travelling to Anfield from the city centre side would not normally have seen Goodison Park, but Everton’s new stadium is highly visible, especially from the Merseyrail trains that take many fans from the city centre to Sandhills station as part of their journey to Anfield.

Everton now have a refreshed presence on Merseyside, and Liverpool themselves have undergone something of a reset of their own.

The team that won the Premier League last season was very much a legacy of Jurgen Klopp’s tenure as manager. Only one new signing was made, Federico Chiesa, and he barely featured as Klopp’s team, fine-tuned by new manager Arne Slot, took Liverpool to a 19th league title.

This year, however, fine-tuning has given way to an overhaul. It was much needed, given the age of some key members of the Klopp team, the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid, and the tragic death of Diogo Jota.

It’s important to remember that this Liverpool squad are dealing with that emotional loss that will be affecting them much more than any of the usual squad turnover that happens in football each season.

This has affected players in different ways, but those present in the congregation at Anfield each week are helping each other through it; players, fans, family, friends, and club staff alike.

Liverpool now have three matches in quick succession at their Anfield home. Only six days will separate Wednesday’s 2025/26 Champions League opener against Atletico Madrid and Tuesday’s meeting with Southampton in the League Cup.

The Reds’ refresh has come in the form of several high-profile new signings, and the story of these transfers was, for much of the summer, more prominent than the anticipation of the football itself.

The game against Atletico Madrid well and truly brought the football back to the fore, though. What started with furore around the debut of £125 million summer signing Alexander Isak ended with the jubilation of a late winner from captain and Klopp-era stalwart Virgil van Dijk.

Much of the focus has been on Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong, and Milos Kerkez, but the goals against Atletico Madrid were scored by Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah, and Van Dijk. A reminder that this team still has a core of Klopp originals driving it.

The changes at Everton this season have also included the arrival of exciting new players who will help christen their new stadium. 

Jack Grealish has become an immediate fan favourite, and currently leads the Premier League assists charts with four, having only registered two across two entire seasons at Manchester City. The loan move has so far been as beneficial for the player himself as it has been for Everton.

“When we faced Everton last season, they had a really good spell, and it wasn’t really a spell because they kept on going with that into this season and also made some good signings,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot said of the opposition in his pre-match press conference.

“One of them is, of course, a player on loan who was worth £100 million in the past, maybe still, but someone paid £100m for him, and he’s doing so well for them, Jack Grealish. So, good team.”

The blue side of Merseyside were already enjoying the performances of one of the most entertaining players in the league last season, Iliman Ndiaye, but now the Senegalese has more quality around him in the shape of Grealish and another impressive new signing, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. 

Add Tyler Dibling to the mix, and Everton fans have plenty to be excited about.

In his own pre-match press conference, David Moyes picked out one of the more unheralded players, James Garner, for high praise, and suggested he should be in the mix for England.

“I think Jimmy’s playing as well as any player at the moment,” the Everton manager said. “I think he’s playing as well as any English midfield player in the country.

“He’s had to play a few games at left back and he’s done a really good job there, he’s shown his versatility, but ultimately I think his form as a midfield player has been really good.”

Research by Transfermarkt ahead of the game showed that to this point, only four managers — Slot, Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta, and Enzo Maresca — have won more Premier League points than Moyes since he arrived at Everton in January.

It makes an intense rivalry closer on paper, as the gap between the two teams might not be as wide as Everton’s final position in the bottom half of the league table last season might suggest.

Slot, like Moyes, is preparing for a tough challenge, but also spoke of the respect between the two teams, mentioning Everton’s tributes following the death of Jota, before commenting on football fans’ relative togetherness despite the rivalries between clubs.

“What I like so much here in England is that no matter how much rivalry there is between us and Everton, or us and Manchester United, or if we’re gonna go to Newcastle with the whole Isak story going on, the fans can just be together,” said Slot.

“When we arrived in Newcastle [last month], I saw 10 Liverpool shirts and many Newcastle shirts, but the 10 Liverpool shirts could just stand in between the Newcastle fans. That is impossible in Holland!

“If Ajax play against Feyenoord, away fans are not allowed anymore. So that tells you how terrible that situation is. 

“It makes it so much better if both sets of fans are there, and that’s what’s going to happen [on Saturday], and I hope that’s going to continue for as long as football is played here in England.”

Everton’s new route to this game, at least symbolically, takes them from the waterfront through the L5 postcode and the Everton area of the city to Anfield.