Virgil van Dijk scored the winning goal 10 minutes into second-half stoppage time as Liverpool beat Everton 2-1 in the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

It looked as though Sunday's game – which was disrupted by a major injury for each side as Giorgi Mamardashvili and Jarrad Branthwaite were carried off – would peter out to a draw.

But Van Dijk stunned the home fans into silence with his last-gasp header from Dominik Szoboszlai's corner, which lifted Liverpool seven points clear of those outside the top five.

Everton's players were welcomed to Hill Dickinson Stadium by swathes of supporters lining the streets, and they almost dialled up the atmosphere in the sixth minute as Beto's header was clawed away by Mamardashvili.

Iliman Ndiaye then had a goal disallowed due to Jake O'Brien being offside in the build-up, and only 66 seconds after the restart, the stadium's first derby goal was scored at the other end. 

Cody Gakpo intercepted a loose pass from Dwight McNeil before sliding in Mohamed Salah, who stroked first-time past Jordan Pickford.

Everton drew level nine minutes into the second half, though, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall outfoxing Ibrahima Konate before putting it on a plate for Beto.

Mamardashvili had to be carried off after that goal, to be replaced by third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, while Everton saw Beto sustain a head injury and Branthwaite go off in tears with an apparent hamstring issue.

Those injuries disrupted the flow of the game and led to 11 added minutes, and with time almost up, Van Dijk powered Szoboszlai's corner home to put an eight-point buffer between the teams. 

Data Debrief: Salah matches Gerrard as Van Dijk strikes late on

Liverpool were far from their best here, having 14 shots and accumulating 1.45 expected goals (xG), though much of that latter figure came from Salah's opener. Everton had 10 shots with an xG value of 0.8.

But two of Everton's old tormentors provided the derby heroics yet again. 

In his final Merseyside derby, Salah drew level with Steven Gerrard as the joint-leading scorer in this fixture's Premier League history, with nine goals. 

He also equalled Andy Cole for the fifth most away goals scored in Premier League history with 83. Only Harry Kane (112), Wayne Rooney (94), Alan Shearer (87) and Frank Lampard (85) have scored more.

And Van Dijk's goal, scored after 99 minutes and 53 seconds, was the third-latest winning goal on record in the Premier League (since 2006-07), after Chelsea versus Manchester United in April 2024 (100:41) and Newcastle United against Leeds United in January 2026 (101:48).