With today's courtroom deadline set, Liverpool players and fans alike will have more of an idea of who is actually going to own their club come the big Sunday kick-off at Goodison.
- Premier League Fixtures / Liverpool latest
Whether that means we can expect an improvement on the pitch - certain players have been vocal in their beliefs that all the boardroom wrangling has affected their form over the past few days - is unlikely though.
Liverpool may historically have the upper hand in this fixture - they have won 70 (to Everton's 52) of 182 Merseyside derbies - but their current plight suggests Everton might get one over the old enemy for the first time in eight attempts in the league.
The Toffees may well have had garnered an equally parsimonious points haul so far this season, but at least there are signs of improvement at Goodison Park and David Moyes' side head into the game buoyed by victory over Birmingham.
Liverpool on the other hand are in the depths of despair, with defeat to Blackpool before the international break sending them into the relegation zone for the first time since October 1984.
Another interesting thought to sway you into taking up Totesports's 6/4 Everton win: this will be manager Roy Hodgson’s first Premier League match at Goodison Park as Liverpool manager - Rafael Benitez, Roy Evans and Graeme Souness all lost their first league match at Everton while Gerard Houllier also failed to win, drawing his derby debut 0-0.
A 1-0 Everton win is available with Stan James at 7-1, while Bet Fred have Tim Cahill - who, along with Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt has scored four times in Premier League Merseyside derbies - as first goalscorer at a reasonable 15/2.
Whatever happens, it's going to be a feisty affair, as always, so why not plump for a red card to be shown? There have been 19 red cards in all 36 Merseyside derbies in the Premier League - more than any other single fixture in the division. Steven Gerrard, who has himself been dismissed twice, is 3-1 with Sky Bet to see red again.
Away from Goodison Park, there is other football to be enjoyed this weekend. Why not have a punt on the game with the most goals to be Aston Villa-Chelsea (15/2 with Sporting Bet), considering Chelsea's rampant attack line and Villa's porous defence?
Or you could do worse than backing Nigel De Jong to be sent off for the first time in his Manchester City career when the Blues play Blackpool. The Dutchman is a marked man after his leg-breaker on Hatem Ben Arfa and it's surely only a matter of time before the midfield enforcer is made to pay. He's at 11/8 with Sky Bet.
Source: DSG
