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ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL // Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike sent Liverpool on its way to a fifth straight victory in the Premier League this season, though it was a narrow win in the end against Everton.
It took little over 10 minutes for Liverpool to find the breakthrough here, with Gravenberch placing a shot past Jordan Pickford after a brilliant assist from Mohamed Salah. Around half an hour in, Ekitike finished well when set through by Gravenberch, who turned provider.
Idrissa Gana Gueye scored a superb goal shortly after half-time but Arne Slot's side just about managed to hold on for the three points. Here are the four things Liverpool.com spotted as the game unfolded.
Ryan Gravenberch takes control
So far this season, Liverpool has seen the sky-high potential that Gravenberch has at the base of the midfield. He will not be able to play every minute of every game, but at the moment looks undroppable.
He scored and assisted in the first half and was running the show with a silky, smooth elegance to his game. His trademark drop of the shoulder was coming off left, right and center, while his passing broke the lines with ease.
Gravenberch is a delightful player to watch when he is in this kind of mood and Arne Slot will want that to continue for as long as possible. He wasn't quite as good in the second half, but he has the ability level to put himself in Player of the Year contention.
Hugo Ekitike impresses
Hugo Ekitike, having seen Alexander Isak start midweek, was given the nod here. That was always likely after the Swede's summer of frustration and limited training.
In the long term, it will be fascinating to see how Slot uses the two big-money number nines — and whether they get much time on the field together — but for now, it was a case of one or the other.
As it stands, Ekitike has the jersey and if he continues to perform like he did in the first half, Isak will have a battle on his hands to keep it. The Frenchman scored, but his general play was so composed even in such a tough fixture.
Linking things up nicely and staying cool when it mattered, it was hard not to compare Ekitike to Darwin Nunez. He is, in many ways, everything that the Uruguayan wasn't.
Both Ekitike and Kerkez were making their first appearances in the Merseyside derby, with Everton having two debutants in the fixture (Jack Grealish and Kieran Dewsbury-Hall) who have previous Premier League experience.
Especially in the case of the Liverpool number 22, you would never have known it. In the second half, he tired, but this was another exciting glimpse of the 23-year-old's potential.
Bold Florian Wirtz call
Florian Wirtz was taken out of the spotlight from the off, and Alexander Isak was always unlikely to start having played 58 minutes against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League midweek.
Both decisions, though when both players are fully fit and firing they will usually start, proved useful for Liverpool. With a more physical midfield, Liverpool was able to dominate the ball, and Ekitike was very sharp.
Wirtz's absence from the starting XI was a surprise but the extra legs were invaluable, and the creative burden was shifted elsewhere. Mohamed Salah (maybe as a result of Wirtz not being there, but perhaps that is unfair) was more than happy to take it on.
A derby is never an easy game to come into as a substitute and both Wirtz and Isak found it harder than Curtis Jones.
Arne Slot changes pay off and David Moyes fuming
Midweek, it was Jeremie Frimpong and Andy Robertson; here, Conor Bradley and Milos Kerkez were given the nod. Arne Slot hinted that he would rotate more in his second season at the helm, and he arguably has greater scope to do that now.
At full-back, certainly, there is loads of depth. In midfield and attack, too, Slot was able to leave options in reserve: Curtis Jones, for instance, as well as Wirtz and Isak.
If Liverpool is to go further in Europe this time around — and it has already made a good start in the Champions League — then it will need that depth. In the first week where there was three games in eight days, it picked up maximum points.
David Moyes might have fumed with the officials and his Everton players were angry at Darren England for how he handled the game, but there was no doubt which team was the worthy winner. That was Liverpool.
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