In a flash — in 13 seconds in fact — Liverpool are back.

Thirteen seconds is all it took from Everton striking the post to Liverpool sweeping down the other end and opening the scoring.

Fine margins? By the final whistle there was a gulf between these two sides in the 243rd Merseyside derby — when will there be a 244th with Everton in the bottom three and in fear of relegation for the first time in 72 years? — as Liverpool’s season finally came alive.

Jurgen Klopp even ventured onto the pitch to fistpump in front of The Kop after a first Premier League win of 2023. It is, of course, remarkable that it has taken until mid-February for that to happen but it also should be remembered by those keen to criticise Klopp that this was his 250th victory as Liverpool manager and he has done it in fewer matches than any of his illustrious predecessors: Bob Paisley took 448 games; Bill Shankly 472.

The Liverpool fans lapped it up. They goaded Everton with chants of “going down” and whether this will be their last visit to Anfield for some time and there is much for Sean Dyche to ponder after the euphoria of beating league leaders Arsenal.

In truth the new manager got his team selection and tactics all wrong — a first start since December 2021 for Ellis Simms backfired, the thinness of his squad was exposed, while Everton were powder-puff poodles rather than ‘dogs of Dyche’.

Klopp got it spot on. Just like the belief, players are returning while a couple of the big signings suddenly showed their worth. This was indisputably Cody Gakpo’s best game since he signed from PSV Eindhoven in January, as a deeper central striker, and he finally got his first goal while there was a standing ovation for Darwin Nunez as he was substituted.

There was a roar also in that he was replaced by DiogoJota, back at last from injury as was Roberto Firmino. The reinforcements are arriving —Virgil van Dijk was unneeded from the bench — and Liverpool have so much ground to make up… but who knows?

Maybe Klopp might have to consider playing four up front— a return to that ‘Fab Four’(when it was Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Firmino and Phillipe Coutinho) given the awesome resources he could soon have at his disposal especially with Luis Diaz to also return.It feels powerful and threatening to the rest of the league.

“Tonight we were there and that has to be the sign for us what we have to do. We probably had 70% possession and scored from two counters, that makes it special,” Klopp said.

“We needed this game, we needed the performance, our people absolutely deserved it,” he said.

Liverpool are back. The rest of the Premier League have been served notice.

The Daily Telegraph in London with inputs from AP/PTI

Salah sees turnaround in victory

Liverpool: Mohamed Salah is hoping Liverpool’s 2-0 Premier League win over Everton in Monday’s Merseyside Derby could herald a new beginning for the struggling side as they seek to rescue what has been a very disappointing season.

“This was a very important match which can change everything,” the 30-year-old told beIN Sport.

“This has started last week in training. We were all very excited and we (the players) talked to each other that we would turn the whole season around from this match, and I hope that will happen.”

This was Salah’s first Premier League goal since he netted against Aston Villa on December 26. “I don’t worry about (goals), but I wasn’t happy because I wasn’t scoring and we weren’t winning,” he said.

Reuters