Liverpool host local rivals Everton in the Premier League on Monday night – and the football engine anticipates a one-sided affair.
The Reds pulled off a 5-1 rout in the simulation, with goal scorers including long-suffering Darwin Núñez.
The sides had a very different January transfer window with Football Manager than in real life.
Within Sean Dyche’s matchday squad are two players who departed in the transfer window. Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon started the match, and Salamon Rondon, who’s contract was terminated in December, began on the bench.
Liverpool had been more active in January. RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo has joined the Red’s ranks, starting in midfield with Curtis Jones.
Liverpool started the scoring, as Jones played a low cross to Luis Díaz in prime position to put the home side ahead.
Trent Alexander-Arnold pushed on in the half-hour mark. The right-back darted into the box, and when former Liverpool defender Conor Coady stood in his way, the England International fell into Coady, the ball trickling into the goal in the process.
Liverpool continued to pile on the misery as Ibrahima Konaté, who is currently injured in real life, fired a header home from a corner as the side took the three goal advantage.
Núñez, a man struggling to grace the scoresheet on a grass pitch had the same trouble on a digital one. The forward got on the end of an Alexander-Arnold cross and knocked the uncontested header into the Toffee’s goal, but he was deemed offside.
Thankfully for the Uruguayan, his goal drought wasn’t as comprehensive as in the real world. The attacker snatched the ball off his teammate Diego Jota’s feet and fired an effort to the far post and beyond Jordon Pickford for Liverpool’s fourth.
Dyche’s men weren’t without fight, and the blue team from Merseyside found their way past Liverpool’s previously impregnable defence.
Terminated Rondon was the man to reduce Everton’s deficit, as he seized upon an Alisson Becker blunder and made no mistake from close range.
Virgil Van Dijk rounded off the game’s scoring in the 86th minute, as he latched onto a free-kick from deep to make the final score 5-1.
Liverpool had just 1.96 xG, only outperforming their rivals by 0.86 despite the four goal disparity.
Football Manager 2023 predicts an end to Liverpool’s poor form in the friendly derby as the side won conclusively in a 5-1 rout.
The game is yet to be played on the actual pitch, as both sides prepare for to fight for an important point for both teams on Monday, 13th February.
