The ‘most competitive Premier League derbies’ revealed

You just can’t call what’s going to happen when Liverpool face Everton on Saturday evening – live on talkSPORT.

The Merseyside clubs are both struggling, having not won in their last three Premier League outings so a win in the GameDay clash at Anfield is a must for both.

It’s known as the ‘friendly derby’ with scouse families often having supporters of both Liverpool and Everton.

On the pitch though, it’s as feisty as the next one. Red cards are a regular occurrence, 22 in Premier League clashes between them to be precise.

Jamie Redknapp revealed a meat pie hit him in the head on derby day, while Peter Crouch had to dodge a bunch of flying programmes as he celebrated scoring at Goodison Park in December 2005.

There’s less danger of that happening on Saturday – fans aren’t allowed in of course. What’s at stake is Liverpool and Everton vying to get their league season going once again.

History shows us that Liverpool are expected to win. In fact, the Merseyside derby isn’t a particularly competitive one, as research by Paddy Power reveals.

Liverpool and Everton have played each other 288 times, with the Reds emerging victorious on 42 per cent of those occasions to the Toffees’ 28.5 per cent.

In fact, the Merseyside derby is low down the table of derbies involving English teams if you ranked them by how competitive they are.

The most competitive in the country is Bolton vs Wigan. The Lancashire sides have an equal amount of wins, draws and defeats against each other in the 47 occasions they’ve met. Wycombe and Oxford also have the same amount of wins, draws and defeats but have faced off fewer times (29).

The Tyne-Wear derby is the most competitive derby involving at least one Premier League side. But it’s Sunderland, who are now in League One, who have a 0.6 per cent win rate difference advantage on Premier League Newcastle.

The tightest derby where both sides are currently in the Premier League is between Crystal Palace and Brighton.

Some would dispute whether that’s even a derby but you’re guaranteed to get a competitive match whatever happens. Brighton edge it with 2.9 per cent win rate difference in their favour.

Wolves vs West Brom is second with the Baggies better off while in third you have Tottenham vs Arsenal – the Gunners tend to have better fortunes on derby day in north London.

In fourth it’s the Manchester derby while Liverpool vs Everton is down in fifth of these charts which you can see below.

Listen to full commentary of Liverpool vs Everton LIVE on talkSPORT on Saturday, kick-off 5:30pm.