First and foremost it’s worth pointing out just how impressive Dejan Lovren was on his return to the Liverpool starting line-up on Saturday.
Both he and Joel Matip proved they were without a doubt Jurgen Klopp’s strongest central defensive duo as they combated the might of Romelu Lukaku, reducing him to fewer shots on goal than Liverpool teenager Trent Alexander-Arnold- who came on in the 74th minute.
In the process of lodging one of the Premier League’s most prolific forwards in his back pocket, Lovren found himself on the end of a dreadful challenge from Everton’s Ross Barkley.
The Croatian has shown his class, however, by putting the collision down to being one of the traits of a derby clash.
“Listen, I don’t want to talk about this now. It’s over,” he told Sky Sports, as cited by the Liverpool Echo.
“You can expect it in the derbies, things like this happen. There will be headlines about that, I will leave that with our manager.”
“We saw it already. Last time there were some nasty tackles, it was this time also, but it’s part of the game.”
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Klopp was furious at the time, leading to a brief altercation with opposing manager Ronald Koeman and the Everton coaching staff.
A fiery contest was always a possibility given the nature of the occasion but there is no doubt over the fact Everton should have ended the game with ten and possibly even nine men.
Lovren’s reaction to the incident was as mature and level-headed as his derby display. It was a solid comeback after a frustrating spell on the sidelines and a sign of what we can achieve this season if the same Reds back four can stay fit.