• Manager admits only ‘crisis’ at rivals will keep team in title race
• Klopp: ‘We never lost here before and that feels really different’

Jürgen Klopp apologised for Liverpool’s first Merseyside derby defeat at Everton in 14 years and admitted his team need “a crisis” to unfold at Arsenal and Manchester City to remain in the title race.

Liverpool deservedly lost at Goodison Park where Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored to give Sean Dyche’s team three precious points in their fight for Premier League survival. Everton’s victory leaves Liverpool, who are in talks to appoint Feyenoord’s Arne Slot as their new manager, trailing leaders Arsenal by three points and only one point above City, who have two games in hand. A dejected Klopp admitted Liverpool had only themselves to blame for the first Goodison derby defeat of his reign.

The final Merseyside derby of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool reign might well prove the final blow to his dream of saying goodbye with the Premier League title. For the first time in 14 long years, Everton emerged victorious against their local rivals at Goodison Park. Victory will taste all the sweeter for Sean Dyche’s team with their top-flight status almost certainly secured at the expense of Liverpool’s title chances.

“You lost the league at Goodison Park,” sang the home crowd as they rejoiced in a deserved Everton victory, an outstanding Everton performance and the best night of Dyche’s reign. Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the goals that consigned Liverpool to a hugely damaging defeat.

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Gary J Byrne: “With Liverpool’s penalty taker Mo Salah back in the starting line-up, I’m naturally disappointed Ashley Young has been left out of the Everton team.”

For the record, here’s the officials: Referee: Andy Madley. Assistants: Harry Lennard, Nick Hopton. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: David Coote. Assistant VAR: Lee Betts.

• Klopp evokes memories of comeback against Barcelona in 2019
• Gasperini: ‘It is one of the most important games in our history’

Jürgen Klopp evoked memories of Liverpool’s famous Champions League comeback against Barcelona before their Europa League quarter-final second leg with Atalanta and said: “If we fail, then let’s fail in the most beautiful way.”

Liverpool find themselves in a ­similar predicament to that ­unforgettable 2019 semi-final ­second leg with a 3-0 deficit to overturn against the Italian team on Thursday. Klopp was reluctant to draw comparisons with the Barcelona game, on the basis of Liverpool’s poor performance against Atalanta last Thursday and the absence of the Anfield factor. But he admitted the situation reminded him of a line he used in a rousing pre-match speech before the 4-0 triumph over Lionel Messi and co, and urged Liverpool to give everything to rescue their Europa League campaign.

We ask whether the teams’ Premier League defeats had been coming, where the problems lie and what the managers must reflect on

Arsenal: Mikel Arteta’s decision to disrupt the formula that has served them so well since the turn of the year backfired spectacularly against an Aston Villa side who came to the Emirates Stadium with a clear gameplan. Kai Havertz looked threatening during the first half as he consistently broke through the lines from his midfield position but Gabriel Jesus was unable to provide the cutting edge in attack as Arsenal faded badly after the break. By contrast, Ollie Watkins was a constant menace and unsettled the usually assured Gabriel Magalhães, while John McGinn and co were able to control possession for Villa against an ineffective Arsenal midfield. But of most concern was how panic seemed to spread among Arteta’s players as they chased the game and were eventually overwhelmed. EA

City have not been at their overwhelming best this season, but they remain immune to the typical anxieties of a title run-in

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There are still only two points in it: Manchester City 73, Arsenal 71, Liverpool 71. It’s not over yet. If the three keep pace for the next five games, it will still be the first season since 1971-72 in which three different sides go into their final game of the season with a chance of winning the title. The hope for anybody seeking a dramatic run-in is that this weekend was just the beginning of a final month of twists and turns. But the sense is that the race has taken a decisive shift towards City and a fourth successive title for Pep Guardiola’s team.

It’s not just that City swept Luton aside 5-1 . You’d expect that; they beat them 6-2 in the FA Cup in February. Nor was it just the fact that Liverpool lost at home to Crystal Palace , the opponent Jürgen Klopp had beaten more than any other, or that Arsenal lost at home to Aston Villa , managed by their former manager Unai Emery, each detail twisting the knife in a little further. It was the way they lost, coming after the way Arsenal had played in drawing against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and the way Liverpool had played in losing to Atalanta in the Europa League .

Despite vindication over police and media lies that followed the disaster, families and survivors lament lack of accountability

On this spring day, 15 April, the clocks move round to 35 years since that terrible afternoon in 1989, when 97 people were unlawfully killed attending a prestige football match at Sheffield Wednesday’s home ground, Hillsborough.

English football will remember its deepest shame as a different age, the appalling crush on unsafe terraces with fenced-in “pens” for supporters, at a stadium nevertheless deemed suitable to host an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. A last disaster, after which clubs were finally forced by law – and given public money – to make their grounds safe, then sold their TV rights to Sky and grew rich on supporters’ subscriptions.

Manchester City are only two points ahead, there are six games remaining, but we know we have seen this movie before

At the final whistle the Emirates ­Stadium was already half empty, the home crowd streaming out into the Sunday gloom.

Mikel Arteta could be seen striding across the turf to applaud the empty pink-red seats, or least those who had remained in theirs right to the end of an afternoon that had kicked off to raucous club anthems, tongues of fire on the touchline, choreographed victory-vibes.

The immediate reaction to the final whistle painted the picture of a truly damaging week for Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp hugged a victorious Crystal Palace manager, Oliver Glasner, before puffing out his cheeks and shaking his head. Andy Robertson sank to his haunches and stared into the middle distance disconsolately. Liverpool fans filed out without a sound. Their team has faltered badly in the title race.

Soundly beaten in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals by Atalanta on Thursday, Liverpool succumbed again on home soil as Eberechi Eze’s early goal gave Palace a deserved victory and huge lift in their bid to pull clear of relegation trouble. They may just have holed Liverpool’s Premier League title prospects in the process. Klopp’s team have lost two successive home games for the first time since the Covid season of 2020-21 and only have themselves to blame after another lacklustre display. An improved second-half display came too late.