After returning to winning ways with Wednesday's 5-0 thrashing of Watford, Liverpool now turn attention to this weekend's Merseyside derby showdown with Everton.

The Reds have been far from their best in recent weeks, but the manner of their comfortable victory over the Hornets sets them up nicely for Sunday's trip to Goodison Park.

Everton

December's 1-0 loss to Liverpool in the reverse encounter brought a change of fortunes for Everton and their under-fire manager Marco Silva. Having lost one of seven games heading into that clash at Anfield, it was soon two wins in 14 for the Toffees.

Last month's 1-0 reverse at the hands of Silva's former club Watford could easily have spelt the end for the Portuguese, but Everton stuck by the man they fought so hard to snap up and a corner may well have been turned.

Following a 17-day gap between matches, Everton returned to action in midweek and saw off Cardiff City 3-0 in South Wales. The margin of victory may have flattered them slightly, but the visitors returned to Merseyside with three goals, three points and a clean sheet.

Having put an end to their three-game winless run, coming right on the back of a 3-2 loss to Millwall in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Silva will be hoping for a better run of form between now and the end of the season.

Everton moved back into the top half of the division with their win against Cardiff, but they are still six points adrift of seventh place, currently occupied by Wolverhampton Wanderers, which would have been their target for the season.

Looking the opposite way, the Toffees could just as easily end up as low as 12th come the end of the weekend should results go against them. Consolidating their place in the top half may well be the target for Silva, as his side have a run of home matches against Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Back-to-back league wins for the first time since October would be the perfect way to build some momentum ahead of this tough run of home fixtures, but this is a fixture Everton tend to struggle in.

They are winless in their last 18 encounters with Liverpool in all competitions, losing exactly half of those - their longest ever such streak against their Merseyside rivals. Another loss on Sunday and once again Silva's future will be the major talking point at Goodison Park.

Recent form in Premier League: LWLLLW
Recent form (all competitions): LWLLLW

Liverpool

It may not have been the disastrous result many had labelled it as, but there is no denying that Liverpool's goalless draw with bitter rivals Manchester United last weekend further halted their momentum.

The Reds were slow on the ball, failed to press as well as usual and looked bereft of ideas in the final third of the field. United may have been the division's in-form side, but they lost three men in the first half and their gameplan went out of the window from that point on.

That Old Trafford stalemate came five days on from a 0-0 draw with Bayern Munich in the Champions League when the same was true. Again, it was not a terrible result - and Jurgen Klopp will still fancy his side's chances of progressing through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League - but they were nowhere near their fluent best.

Just when the critics were starting to question the Reds' bottle, however, they produced a quality display against Watford to run out five-goal winners and claim their biggest win of the season.

Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane, being used through the middle in Roberto Firmino's absence, chipped in with a couple of goals and Divock Origi, the hero in the reverse meeting with Everton, also added his name to the scoresheet.

After drawing three games out of four in the top flight, and with Manchester City continuing to brush aside all comers, anything less than three points for Klopp's side in midweek would rightly be described as disastrous.

Now they turn attention to Everton and the toughest of their remaining away league fixtures, with four sides battling relegation to come on their travels after this weekend. No team has a better points-per-game away record than the Reds this term, losing just once - to Man City in early January - away from Anfield all season.

Man City are also the only side to have scored more goals than Liverpool in 2018-19 - 75 to 64 - yet, and this is the only stat that matters, it is the Reds who lead the way at the top of the Premier League with 10 games to go.

The defending champions have done well to close the gap to just one point in recent weeks, though ultimately it is still Liverpool's to lose. Come through Sunday's test with that advantage still intact and supporters will have every right to believe that this might just be their year at long last.

Recent form in Premier League: WDDWDW
Recent form (all competitions): DDWDDW

Team News

Firmino sat out the win against Watford and, despite being given a chance of making the squad for Sunday, Klopp admitted after that match he is tempted to stick with Mane - who has scored a career-high 14 league goals this season - through the middle.

That is the biggest decision the German has to make this weekend, though there are other calls to be made. Jordan Henderson was dropped against Watford but is pushing for a recall, while Naby Keita also had to settle for a place on the bench last time out.

The back four could remain unchanged from the Watford win, though, as Dejan Lovren is still lacking fitness and Joe Gomez is not ready for a return to action.

In terms of the home side, Kurt Zouma has served his suspension and is in line for a return to the starting lineup here, possibly in place of Phil Jagielka.

Yerry Mina is also back in contention and will battle with Michael Keane for the other central-defensive berth, while Morgan Schneiderlin may retain his place in midfield after being handed a rare start on Tuesday.

Gylfi Sigurdsson scored two of Everton's goals at the Cardiff City Stadium to take his Premier League tally to 11 for the season, equalling his best ever return in a single campaign in the competition (also 11 in 2015-16).

Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Zouma, Digne; Gueye, Schneiderlin; Walcott, Sigurdsson, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin

Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah, Mane, Origi

Head To Head

Origi scored a dramatic injury-time winner when the sides last faced off three months ago, taking advantage of some terrible goalkeeping from Jordan Pickford in the Everton goal to stretch Liverpool's unbeaten run against their rivals to 18 encounters.

This weekend's match will be the 200th time they have faced off in the top flight, becoming only the second fixture to reach that milestone after Aston Villa vs. Everton (202).

Despite being unbeaten in their last 16 league meetings with the Toffees, however, Liverpool have only pulled off the double over them twice in the last seven seasons (2011-12 and 2016-17).

We say: Everton 1-2 Liverpool

Everton would love nothing more than to derail their neighbours' title charge, which they can achieve by claiming a point on Sunday. After injecting some swagger back into their play against Watford last time out, though, Liverpool should be able to get the job done at Goodison Park to stay at the top of the division.