Liverpool take run of late winners into Merseyside derby

LIVERPOOL, England:

They might start calling it 'Slot Time'.

Arne Slot's Liverpool, the defending English Premier League champions, are making an uncanny habit of scoring late winning goals to start this season.

And it is evoking memories of the great Manchester United teams under Alex Ferguson doing the same on so many occasions deep into stoppage time -- or 'Fergie Time' as many labelled it.

In all five of their matches so far, Liverpool have netted a winner in the 83rd minute or later.

On Sunday, Mohamed Salah converted a penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time to beat Burnley 1-0 for Liverpool's fourth straight victory to open the Premier League. Then on Wednesday, Virgil van Dijk headed home at a corner in the second minute of added time to seal a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

Everton, then, have been warned ahead of the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Saturday lunchtime that kicks off the fifth round.

There's a history of late Liverpool goals in this fixture, too. Infamous is Divock Origi's bizarre 96th-minute winner for the Reds in December 2018 after a mistake from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Everton arrive at Anfield in decent form, having won two and drawn one of their opening four games, and seen Jack Grealish rediscover some of his old spark early in his loan spell from Manchester City.

Liverpool are the only team on a maximum 12 points.

KEY MATCHUPS

Arsenal are the closest chasers to Liverpool and face another tough early-season game, this time at home to Manchester City. The only points Arsenal have dropped so far were in a 1-0 loss at Liverpool -- secured by, fittingly, a late free kick from Dominik Szoboszlai -- while City are coming off a 3-0 victory over Manchester United in the derby last weekend.

City will have two fewer days to prepare for the match, given their Champions League fixture against Napoli on Thursday, whereas Arsenal played Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday.

Chelsea also have a short turnaround after playing Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, because they head to Manchester United on Saturday.

Tottenham and Bournemouth -- both on nine points like Arsenal -- play Brighton and Newcastle, respectively.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Slot has to decide whether to hand Alexander Isak a first Premier League start. The Sweden striker, a record signing from Newcastle late in the summer transfer window, didn't feature at all against Burnley, but started against Atletico and played 58 minutes.

Man City striker Erling Haaland has five goals in his first four league games heading to Arsenal, renowned as having the strongest defence in England.

Will Cole Palmer stay in Chelsea's team for the trip to Old Trafford? The England playmaker made a goalscoring appearance off the bench in the 2-2 draw at Brentford on Saturday after injury, before starting the 3-1 loss to Bayern.

There's set to be key absentees in the Arsenal-Man City match, with Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard having hurt his shoulder last weekend and joining an injury list containing fellow attacking players Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

City have recently been without playmaker Rayan Cherki, forward Omar Marmoush and defenders Rayan Ait-Nouri and John Stones.

Man United are another team with some early-season injuries, with the absences of Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount impacting the attacking options of under-fire manager Ruben Amorim.

AP