LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 20: Ryan Gravenberch of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammate Mohamed Salah during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 20, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Liverpool’s Dutch midfielder Ryan Gravenberch continued his impressive start to the season with a goal and an assist, which ultimately gave the red half of the city a Merseyside derby win.
The 23-year-old Netherlands international has come into his own under the coaching of compatriot Arne Slot, and this performance, especially in the first half, was one of the best of a string of good displays at the start of the new campaign.
Everton arrived at Anfield in high spirits after its own promising start to the season. New signing Jack Grealish has captured the imagination of fans who are now looking up to the top of the table rather than down to the bottom.
Liverpool, meanwhile, has already gained a reputation for winning games late on. Going into this game, seven of its nine goals in the league at the start of 25/26 have been scored in the second half. Five of those arrived in the last ten minutes.
This game was the opposite. The opener came in the first ten minutes of the game, and the second within half an hour. From there, Liverpool managed to hang on and get the job done despite Everton pulling a goal back through Idrissa Gana Gueye.
It meant Liverpool’s win was, for once, defined by a first-half performance, and that first half itself was defined by the play of Gravenberch.
At the start of the new season, with a collection of new players to fit into his side, Arne Slot has switched to a formation that looks more like a 4-2-3-1 (the manager himself still calls it a 4-3-3), with new signing Florian Wirtz playing in the middle of the attacking midfield three and Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo on either side of him.
Wirtz was rested for this Merseyside meeting with Everton, and Dominik Szoboszlai moved forward into the attacking midfield role from the right—a role which played such a big part in Liverpool’s 2024/25 league title win.
This meant the task for the other midfielders was also more familiar, with Alexis Mac Allister as the box-to-box player to the left, and Gravenberch slightly more defensive in front of the back four to the right.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 20: Ryan Gravenberch of Liverpool scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 20, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool FC via Getty Images
When the occasion calls for it, though, all of these players have a license to join the attack if a space opens and there is sufficient cover behind them in case of a counter-attack.
Gravenberch made one such burst forward to great effect to open the scoring. The timing of the run and the finish, as he lifted an already rising ball over Jordan Pickford into the far corner from Mohamed Salah’s pass, was the kind of play of which any top striker would have been proud.
Speaking of top strikers, Liverpool now has two of them. Record signing Alexander Isak was on the bench, having started against Atlético Madrid in midweek, meaning Hugo Ekitike got the nod up front.
Gravenberch continued his all-round display with a through-ball for Ekitike that was gratefully accepted by the French forward, who has been in impressive goalscoring form at the start of his Liverpool career. This strike was his third goal in the league, and his fourth in all competitions.
The crowd sang Gravenberch’s name to the tune previously reserved for the club’s former midfielder and fellow Dutchman, Gini Wijnaldum. The syllables fit, and the performances too, so it seems fitting to pass it on in this manner, just as Jürgen Klopp’s old song is now used for Arne Slot.
There were to be no late goals in this one, from Everton or Liverpool. The Reds will take derby victories however they come, while the Blues will not be too disappointed with their overall performance despite losing, though derby defeats always sting.
“I think it’s the same for everyone, you need a team around you to show how good you are,” Slot said of Gravenberch’s performance.
“Both goals were a similar area that we attacked, first with Ryan and the second time with Hugo with the pace these two have, the first half was a joy to watch.
“I planned to take him [Gravenberch] off after 60 minutes, but then we conceded the goal, and we need him for his running off the ball.
“The amount of sprints he and Dom make to help Conor [Bradley] and Mo is important.
“He’s done very well, and now he’s maybe a bit more in the spotlight because of these goals and assists.”