Liverpool 0-0 Everton
Liverpool ended their run of four successive league defeats and also made it six derby games unbeaten but were made to settle for a goalless draw against their great local rivals.
Jamie Carragher replaced Babbel from the side which beat Aston Villa in midweek, though that was the only change made by Gerard Houllier.
Unsurprisingly, the game was played at an incredible pace and the first goal chance came after little over seven minutes of play.
Following a corner won by Milab Baros, Danny Murphy delivered a terrific ball to the far edge of the 18 yard area to John Arne Riise, who struck a volley towards goal but Richard Wright got himself behind the shot and made the save.
The first of a number of bookings during the game was given to Djimi Traore just inside ten minutes, for a clumsy challenge on Everton's Lee Carsley.
Even more careless than than Traore was Stephane Henchoz, when after 14 minutes of play, he handled a ball was lobbed into the Liverpool penalty area towards Tomas Radzinski. Referee Graham Poll gave the decision Liverpool's way though, claiming that Radzinski had pushed Henchoz.
Michael Owen had the game's next chance, from a Danny Murphy free kick which was awarded following a foul on Gerrard by Thomas Gravesen, who was booked. Owen's header was well wide though.
Everton's first chance of the evening didn't arrive until the 36th minute, when Radzinski scuffed a shot wide of Kirkland's goal from Everton's first corner of the match.
But Liverpool had the better of the first half and both Gerrard and Riise forced Wright into making saves before the first 45 minutes was up.
Gerrard recieved a pass from Riise and hit a first time shot from just outside the area which curled towards the top corner of the goal before Wright got across to make the save, while Riise made a run from inside the Liverpool half before firing a shot across goal which Wright did well to tip wide of the post.
From the second half restart, Liverpool immediately went in search of a goal, but struggled to find a way through Everton's defence, with the Blues getting plenty of men behind the ball whenever Liverpool attacked their goal.
Gerard Houllier's first changes of the game came just seven minutes into the second period, and saw Smicer and Heskey replace Diao and Traore, both of whom had had poor games.
And Heskey almost made an immediate impact on the match, when he arrived at the far post to meet a ball played into the area by Gerrard, though the header falied to test Richard Wright as Heskey put the ball wide.
A couple of minutes later, David Moyes made the substitution that everyone in the stadium was expecting, as Wayne Rooney was introduced to his first Merseyside derby with 35 minutes of the match remaining, and he too was quickly involved in the action, as he chased a ball down the left side of the field before clattering into Chris Kirkland as the Liverpool 'keeper rushed out of his goal to put the ball out of play.
Before Rooney could try his luck at goal though, there was another opportunity at the Kop end for Enile Heskey, whose miserable control let him down as he went through on goal after getting behind the Everton defence to get on the end of a ball by Gerrard.
Rooney's chance did come, and it was after 18 minutes of his introduction that it arrived. Rooney spun past Hyypia just outside the area and unleashed a fierce drive at goal which was deflected by Henchoz onto the top of the crossbar. It was the closest anyone had come to opening the scoring, though Everton's 17 year old striker was narrowly denied the chance to again make the following day's sporting headlines.
With the scores level as the final whistle drew closer, the temperature on the pitch rose to boiling point with players from both sides finding themselves getting spoken to by Graham Poll.
David Wier was the first of those, as he earned himself a yellow card for tripping Owen just outside the area when the Liverpool man made a run down the right of the pitch. Shortly after, Kevin Campbell also found his name being taken by the referee, for a late challenge on Gerrard, with Campbell's studs catching the ankle of Gerrard.
But it was Gerrard himself who was lucky not to be shown a card of a different colour on 87 minutes, when a shocking challenge on Naysmith left the Everton full back lying in a heap on the side of the pitch, just yards from the dugout which provoked a minor fracas involving a number of players from both sides.
As Naysmith slid across to clear the ball away, Gerrard jumped in two footed and caught Naysmith with both feet, though neither Poll nor his assistant were in a position to see the incident well enough to be able to make the decision to send Gerrard off.
Michael Owen had the game's final chance, hooking a volley just beyond the corner of the goal, and for the first time at Anfield since the 1994/95 season, a Merseyside derby at Anfield ended goalless.
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