EPL: Tough battle as Everton and Liverpool search for three points in bid to either escape relegation or win title

Everton manager Sean Dyche believes the motivation should be there for his side to win any Merseyside Derby rather than just putting a dent in Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes.

A 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday boosted Everton’s chances of beating the drop but with survival yet to be secured, the Blues boss is unconcerned over the prospect of putting a spoke in the wheels of the Reds’ aspiration to be champions.

Dyche said: “I’ve been speaking about this a lot – you would hope the motivation is there for every game. That should be the case for our players and Everton Football Club.

“That is what we have been working towards but of course it has a little bit of extra feeling, of course it does.

“Derbies across the country, I've played in them, I've managed in them, this one I have managed only two, both away, so obviously I've not experienced the home yet, of course, it means more but the point is you are hoping to get to a consistent level of performance where every game you are taking it on is. But [in a derby] of course the noise changes, the players you know what they get, the feel of the game does change.”

While Dyche respects the achievements of Jurgen Klopp ahead of what will be the Liverpool manager’s final Merseyside Derby, he admits he isn’t close enough to the German to think he’ll miss him when he’s gone. The 52-year-old said: “Well, I don't know him.

“I know him on professional terms and I just think he has done a brilliant job. That's it.

“My respect for him is massive for him. It is for every manager because the one thing I know about management is that it is really difficult, way more difficult than people think.

“It doesn't matter if you manage a small club or a big club it is really difficult. But when you to have to re-build things like he has and he has been at each of his [three] clubs a while – five, six, seven years at each club – and is over a thousand game manager and still only 56 that is remarkable really for such a young manager to have amassed over 1,000 games.

“You know in the LMA there is a 1,000-game club and there are not many in there. So that tallied up with winning things, means the respect is there but that respect goes massively out of the window every time that whistle blows whether I was the manager at Burnley or now the manager of Everton.

“That's the way I have always worked. Absolute respect but once that whistle blows everything is for Everton Football Club, me, the staff, the team, and the fans.”

Ahead of what is his first derby at Goodison Park as Everton manager, Dyche is hoping the home fans can play their part to inspire his side like they did against Nottingham Forest last time out. He said: “They certainly made a difference on Sunday, especially after the week we’d had.

Everton haven’t beaten Liverpool at Goodison Park since a 2-0 triumph on October 17, 2010, before Dyche had even started his managerial career and was working as number two to Malky Mackay at Watford. While he admits that’s a fair old stretch for loyal but long-suffering Blues fans to wait, he is determined for his players to rise to the occasion.