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In their perfect five-match start to the season, three of Liverpool’s winning goals have come during second-half added time – but the last team to score a decisive last-gasp goal against them were Everton, who the Premier League leaders host on Saturday.
Defender James Tarkowski fired in an emphatic 98th-minute equaliser in the last Merseyside derby at Everton’s former Goodison Park home in February, settling a 2-2 draw in which Curtis Jones, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Arne Slot and assistant Sipke Hulshoff were dismissed after the final whistle.
“There will probably be games where we need a goal in the last minutes and we don’t score,” said Slot, whose side have taken the lead after the 82nd minute in all four of their league games, beating Bournemouth and Arsenal at home and Newcastle and Burnley away.
“What I can assure you is that even if we don’t score it, we will try to push for it. You’re never 100 per cent sure [of succeeding], but what I do know is we’re so fit that we’re able to push one more time.”
In the first full season of David Moyes’s second spell, Everton have hit encouraging form since losing their opener 1-0 at Leeds United.
A 0-0 draw at home to Aston Villa last Saturday was their third clean sheet of an unblemished defensive record at their Hill Dickinson Stadium and part of a four-match unbeaten run, also featuring wins at home to Brighton & Hove Albion and away to Wolves in the top flight and a 2-0 EFL Cup victory against League One visitors Mansfield Town.
“He wants us right at the top half of the table and pushing up there,” Tarkowski said of Moyes, speaking to Everton TV.
