Liverpool continued their march towards the Premier League title with a 1-0 victory over Everton in a scrappy Merseyside derby as Diogo Jota slotted home the winner in the second half on Wednesday.
But the 246th meeting between the cross-town rivals was fired up by an early fierce tackle from the Toffees' James Tarkowski on the Reds' Alexis Mac Allister, with Tarkowski seen as lucky to be shown only a yellow card.
[Liverpool — Everton summary]The heated mood in Anfield was cranked up another notch with the contentious early tackle. Tarkowski won the ball but his studs-up follow-through caught Mac Allister square in the calf.
VAR confirmed the decision of a yellow card, which gave the centre back the joint most yellow cards without being sent off in Premier League history, with 63.
"I thought at the time that it was a brilliant tackle for a derby game," Everton boss David Moyes said.
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on the Sky Sports commentary that Tarkowski was very lucky to escape a red card for a tackle that was a "potential leg-breaker".
The teams had met in an explosive derby in February that ended 2-2, with Tarkowski equalising deep in stoppage time in a chaotic game that featured four red cards, including one to Liverpool manager Arne Slot.
The champions-elect, with 73 points after 30 games, restored their 12-point lead over second-placed Arsenal while Everton, who ended their nine-game league unbeaten run, are 15th on 34 points.
Everton's Beto had an early goal chalked off for offside and missed a sitter before Jota broke the deadlock in the 57th minute with his first goal in two-and-a-half months.
Anfield erupted when Luis Diaz back-heeled the ball into Jota's path and the Portuguese forward beat a tackle before firing into the net.
"Massive, of course," Jota said, summing up the win. "Not only because it is a derby, but because of the [first game since the] international break.
"It was important to start with three points and hopefully, that gives us momentum for the rest of the season."
While Liverpool are unbeaten in 26 league games, they went into last month's international break on a negative note after being eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and losing to Newcastle United in the League Cup final.
Slot's men looked sluggish and disjointed on Wednesday and Everton could have gone ahead when Beto raced away from defender Virgil van Dijk and beat goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher before hitting his shot against the post.
Kelleher started in goal for Liverpool, with regular starter Alisson recovering from a concussion suffered on international duty with Brazil.
"We were playing against Everton, they make it very difficult for you," Van Dijk said. The games we have played against each other over the years have always been tough.
"They have a certain way of playing and you have to be ready for it. The first half wasn't our greatest but we kept a clean sheet and obviously Jota made a fantastic goal. Three points and we move on."
Moyes remained without a victory at Anfield in 22 games leading Manchester United, Sunderland and West Ham United as well as his current team.
"Liverpool were the better team, there's no doubt about that," Moyes said.
"But I don't like the goal, I think the goal was offside. I'm really surprised it wasn't given. Or maybe I'm not surprised. I don't think many managers come here and think that they get loads of decisions at Anfield generally."
In other results, Manchester City jumped into fourth spot with a 2-0 win over Leicester City with goals from Jack Grealish and Omar Marmoush.
Newcastle stayed in touch for Champions League qualification with a 2-1 win over Brentford, capped by a stunning winner from Sandro Tonali.
Aston Villa had an easy 3-0 win over Brighton, relegation-threatened Ipswich Town beat Bournemouth 2-1 and Southampton drew with Crystal Palace 1-1.
[Premier League table]Reuters/ABC
