Red Cards

I don't care for the Derby to be honest. It's hard enough watching it once a year at Goodison, let alone the annual stroll in the park at Anfield for Liverpool. The fact that satellite TV insist on showing it has been made more probable in recent years with the arrival of Setanta and another TV operation willing to expose us to the nation live on telly. Is it me or do Everton rarely set the pulses racing when the nation has the opportunity to tune in?

So tonight I expect either a gritty display and keep things tight to end with a 1-0 defeat or a draw. What I don't think any of us could cope with is a repeat of the Goodison debacle where we were spared a right doing.

Good mini column in the Observer at the weekend. In the results / digest page in the Sport section was a little league titled 'Fight Clubs', a list of the Premier League fixtures to have seen the most red cards since the league's inception in 1993. Unsurprisingly the Merseyside Derby was top of the pile with 17 red cards in 15 seasons! Second on the list was Everton vs Newcastle with (just) 11. We featured again in joint 3rd with 10 in our fixtures against Chelsea.

I think it's fair to say most fans would be aware of Everton's disciplinary problems in the last 15 years - we've been combative since Joe Royle's Dogs Days, and if you've got Big Ferg on the books, things are going to be, well, spicy I guess. Still, I was a bit surprised at so many mentions in the Top 5.

For the record, my favourite Merseyside off is the legendary Jeffers / Westerveld handbags from '99, highlighted here in the Daily Mail.