Everton’s season has come down to this competition. The Blues have already been knocked out of both the Europa League and Carabao Cup. In the Premier League, they seem safe from relegation, but extremely far from the top four places. If the Toffees are going to accomplish something impressive this season, it will have to come in the FA Cup, but they have been given a tough opening match with rivals Liverpool.

The two sides met at Anfield last month. Everton’s defense proved to be difficult to break down for the Reds’ high-powered attack. It took a Mo Salah wonder goal to break through. In the second half, Everton did show some fight. Dominic Calvert-Lewin won a penalty, which Wayne Rooney converted to give us a 1-1 final.

Everton haven’t won a Merseyside Derby in any competition since October, 2010. Liverpool are in fine form, having not lost since October 22 against Spurs. But they are expected to be missing a number of key players, and new signing Virgil Van Dijk may not quite be ready, so this could get interesting.

Match Details

Date and start time: Friday, January 5th at 11:55 a.m. PT / 2:55 p.m ET / 7:55 p.m. BST

Stadium: Anfield, Liverpool, England

Capacity: 54,074

Weather: 40°F/4°C, cloudy, 24% chance of precipitation, 6 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: FS1 - United States; BBC One - United Kingdom

Radio: BBC Radio, SiriusXM FC, Everton Match Centre, SiriusXM FC, LFCTV GO

Live stream: FOX Sports GO, fuboTV, FOX Soccer Match Pass

Gamethread: Comments section below starting one hour before game time

Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Lineups

Everton

Starting XI - Pickford, Kenny, Holgate, Jagielka, Martina; Schneiderlin, McCarthy, Rooney; Bolasie, Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson

Subs: Robles, Williams, Baningime, Davies, Vlasic, Lookman, Niasse

Liverpool

Starting XI - Karius, Gomez, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Milner, Can, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Lallana, Firmino, Mane

Subs: Ward, Lovren, Alexander-Arnold, Klavan, Wijnaldum, Ings, Solanke