Everton Hopeful They Can Stage Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park

Everton believe that they are capable of hosting the Merseyside derby against neighbours Liverpool at Goodison Park, after the Premier League season resumes next month.

The UK Government has announced that professional sport can now resume behind closed doors, as lockdown restrictions due to the global Covd-19 pandemic are eased.

As things stand, title-chasing Liverpool are set to visit Goodison on June 20. They could clinch their first top flight title since 1990 in that game.

Police have insisted that they would like to see several high-profile games involving the Reds played at neutral venues, in order to discourage celebrating fans from congregating and violating lockdown guidelines.

Mark Roberts, the UK’s national football police chief, recently spoke and outlined this policy.

Merseyside Police give Reds and Blues the Green Light

Merseyside Police, however, have subsequently stated that they have no problem with policing matches in the city of Liverpool.

“Merseyside Police is ready to provide whatever policing is required of us in relation to games being played at our Premier League stadia once the season restarts," the assistant chief constable of Merseyside Police, Rob Carden, confirmed last week.

"In relation to crime and disorder we have no objections to any of the Everton or Liverpool home fixtures being played at their respective grounds."

Everton and Liverpool oppose plans to play matches at neutral venues. Everton have now requested that a meeting of the local safety advisory group be convened.

Such a gesture confirms that they are ready and willing to host the fixture. The local safety advisory group consists of the clubs, supporter groups, Liverpool council, police and other emergency services plus the Sports Grounds Safety Authority.

That meeting will not likely take place until next week. The Premier League clubs are due to meet later this week to discuss protocols relating to the resumption of the competition, branded as Project Restart.

Those discussions will include talks about the use of neutral venues. There have been no London fixtures on the list of games that the Police would prefer to be played at neutral venues as yet.

But it is not known whether any London derbies will be permitted to take place at capital teams’ home grounds after the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, expressed concern about fans gathering at stadiums.

Toffees back in training

Meanwhile, the Toffees have been getting back into the swing of things with some intense conditioning training, as preparations for the resumption of action become more intense.

Everton Head of Physical Conditioning Francesco Mauri has been working with Carlo Ancelotti's squad, and has a fullscale 11v11 practice match pencilled into the schedule for the end of next week.

“We do almost all the training with the ball but it is more aggressive on the most demanding day,” Mauri told evertonfc.com.

“We use small spaces and work with a lot of intensity.

“The physical focus is to achieve a high number of accelerations and decelerations – to do a lot of movements like tackles, shooting and contact."