Saturday’s Merseyside Derby takes place 10 years to the day since Everton last recorded a victory over Liverpool.
To beat them on the anniversary, at this moment, with this team, would be a fitting way to end a difficult decade for the Toffees and announce the beginning of a new era if not as equals, then at least as worthy challengers to the Reds’ recent supremacy.
The Toffees are brimming with belief having made a perfect start to the season, while their city rivals Liverpool are coming off a chastening 7-2 defeat
Perhaps that is too much of a stretch. Perhaps the symbolism of winning three points this weekend isn’t quite so loaded with what the next 10 years will bring to Goodison Park.
These are early days in the project, of course, but there is already a tactical balance and sophistication to what Ancelotti’s Everton are doing which suggests they can end their drought against Liverpool and compete for the Champions League places.
The Italian has always been a big-picture manager, a coach with a keen eye for the right formation and wider structure of his team’s play, but lacking in the finer details.
And that is most likely what we will see at Everton, if the first four league games of the campaign is anything to go by.
Andy Oppong Dankyi 