DAVID MOYES always takes derby games deadly seriously, yet seldom does particularly well in them.
Rafael Benitez, a relative newcomer to these unneighbourly altercations, treated his first derby with some contempt and the under-valued Lee Carsley ensured that he lived to regret this disrespect for tradition.
Having got the message, Liverpool's Spanish coach now needs no reminders about the seriousness of this collision of cultures.
Since shoulder-shrugging his way out of Goodison Park last season, Benitez hungers to replicate the stranglehold over Everton that Gerard Houllier enjoyed.
Twin triumphs, the first of them with his team effectively reduced to nine fit players, the second a comfortable 3-1 victory on enemy soil, seem to signal that Benitez seldom makes the same mistake more than once.
His plans for the 203rd episode in this long-running blood and thunder saga are presently unclear due to a heavy schedule of three matches in six days, the latest being Tuesday's FA Cup annihilation of Birmingham City.
Liverpool's heavy load may benefit Everton, who've enjoyed a full week's R&R after thrashing Aston Villa.
Confidence will be high in the Blue camp despite Liverpool's goal rush, which has brought them 15 goals in the last three games.
Everton have put early-season horrors behind them. Then, they looked as poor as it's possible to be.
They still don't score enough, despite a recent Goodison glut, and their goal difference (-10) is the fifth worst in the whole of the division. And that in a year when Premiership standards have slumped yet again.
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