Liverpool suffered a damaging defeat in the Premier League on Wednesday evening, as Merseyside rivals Everton secured a 2-0 win at Goodison Park. The Reds remain in second in the table but are three points off Arsenal with four games to go.

Jürgen Klopp admits his side need Arsenal and Manchester City to suffer a crisis in the final weeks of the season to stand any chance of winning the title. Pep Guardiola's side has two games in hand, starting with the trip to Brentford on Thursday night.

Liverpool had hopes of an unprecedented quadruple but it has been a difficult month for the Reds, who now have just four matches remaining of the Klopp era. Next up is a trip to West Ham and the players must dust themselves down and end the season on a high.

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Off the pitch, Liverpool is working towards appointing Klopp's successor. Arne Slot has emerged as the new leading candidate to replace the German and BBC Sport reports talks are underway with his current club Feyenoord.

Here, Liverpool.com takes a scan around the Premier League and across the continent to see what's going on at Liverpool's rivals after the loss to the Toffees.

Manchester United could part with as many as 12 first-team players this summer, according to The Mirror. New minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants a mass overhaul of the squad and will also look to bring in six fresh faces within the transfer window.

Ratcliffe has made his intentions clear that change is needed is needed this summer after scraping by Coventry City on penalties to reach the FA Cup final. United also looks set to miss out on the top four.

Liverpool's home shirt for the 2023/2024 campaign pays homage to Bill Shankly and the legendary Reds manager's final season in charge at Anfield. The Nike shirt features a bright red design with a bold white contrast on the colour and cuffs.

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Financial Fair Play (FFP) will limit spending, meaning player sales will be needed to fund any future incomings. Newly-appointed technical director Jason Wilcox will lead the review, which could see first-team stars such as Harry Maguire, Raphaël Varane, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Victor Lindelof all leave.

Meanwhile, Casemiro, Jadon Sancho, Christian Eriksen, Antony and even home-grown talent Marcus Rashford could be sold. Sofyan Amrabat's loan deal will also not be renewed.

Liverpool.com says: While it seems dramatic, an overhaul is certainly needed at Old Trafford. United's season has been a disaster and major changes are needed. It remains to be seen if Erik ten Hag will remain in charge past this season. Improvements are needed to close the gap on Liverpool, Arsenal and City.

Newcastle United is leading the race for Sporting Club de Portugal defender Ousmane Diomande, according to A Bola. Liverpool had previously been linked with the player (via Football Insider), although it is the Magpies reportedly currently in the driving seat to secure the deal.

The 20-year-old reportedly has a release clause of $85million (€80m/£68m) in his current contract, which Eddie Howe's side would look to negotiate. Diomande has not been as prominent in the Sporting CP side since his return from the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast and that could now open the door to a transfer exit this summer.

Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Juventus are all said to be keeping tabs on Diomande. He is contracted until 2027 and is one of the lowest earners at the club, with the Portuguese giants in no rush to sell him.

Liverpool.com says: Liverpool had previously been linked with the player but that may well have been down to speculation that his manager Rúben Amorim could move to Anfield. At least one central defender will be needed this summer and Diomande would be a great addition, albeit an expensive one.

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Liverpool saw its Premier League title hopes take a hammer blow as it was beaten 2-0 by Merseyside rivals Everton at Goodison Park. The Reds now sit three points behind Arsenal with four games to go, with the leaders having a far superior goal difference.

Jürgen Klopp's side did have chances but were again wasteful in front of goal and failed to deal with Everton's attacking threat from set-pieces as Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin found the net.

Speaking after the match, Klopp admitted that Liverpool needs Arsenal, and third-placed Manchester City, to suffer a crisis in the final weeks of the season to stand any chance of ending the campaign as champions.

READ MORE: Gary Neville hits nail on head over Liverpool avoiding same problem as Man Utd and Arsenal

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Klopp told Sky Sports: "I can only apologize for today, to the people and everybody who is with us knows how hard it is for us as well. We should have done better but we didn’t and that is why we lost.

Liverpool returns to action against West Ham on Saturday lunchtime and Klopp will be after an improvement from his players. He will be particularly unimpressed with Everton's opener in the first half, with a number of his players not covering themselves in glory.

Free-kick given away

Liverpool struggled to handle Everton's intensity in the first 30 minutes at Goodison Park and continued to give free-kicks away inside its own half. Curtis Jones was culpable this time for a foul on Idrissa Gueye and Everton made the Reds pay.

Jamie Carragher was particularly critical of Liverpool's naivety on Sky Sports, saying: "Liverpool was giving silly, stupid fouls away. That is not using your brain.

"That gave Everton the opportunity to put the ball in the box and it is as good as anyone in the country at set-pieces. When you come to Goodison as a Liverpool player, there are two or three rules you always do. You don’t give silly fouls away and get the crowd up and you move the ball on quickly."

Van Dijk and Szoboszlai caught out by set-piece

Everton's tactic was clear throughout Wednesday's derby as it put a 'blocker' on Virgil van Dijk, stopping the Liverpool captain from winning the ball in the air. Ben Godfrey was often the man given the task and pulled it off again for Dominic Calvert-Lewin's second goal.

This time, Van Dijk was given a slight nudge from James Tarkowski as he mistimed his jump, allowing Jarrad Branthwaite to make initial contact with the free-kick and head towards goal. Branthwaite was also easily able to get in front of Dominik Szoboszlai, who didn't do anywhere near enough to stop his run.

Carragher added: "Everton did a job on Van Dijk, saying 'if we block him, we are going to get some joy against the other players'. Everton kept it alive but it had been coming. You have to got to win your headers on set-pieces. Everton looked like scoring off every set piece and Liverpool wasn't aggressive enough in dealing with it."

Alexander-Arnold misses header

Trent Alexander-Arnold remains one of the most impressive passers of the ball in Europe. He showed his undoubted talents again at Goodison Park but didn't do enough defensively to stop the Everton opener.

The Liverpool full-back attempted to clear the ball on the edge of the box but completely mistimed his jump, seemingly awaiting contact from Vitaliy Mykolenko. It never came as Everton pumped the ball back in to keep the attack alive.

Konaté and Mac Allister make a hash of clearance

It was a comedy of errors after that as Jack Harrison teed up Ben Godfrey before his initial attempt was blocked. The ball the rebounded back off Jones towards Mac Allister, who lined up to clear his lines.

But under no pressure at all, Konaté stuck his left leg out and directed the ball into the path of Branthwaite. Ex-Reds defender Carragher was not impressed with the Frenchman's role in the goal, although it appeared there was no communication from Mac Allister.

He added: "What is he doing? He doesn't know where he is and sticks a leg out at it. He has been so poor of late. Liverpool needs to buy a centre-back in the summer."

Alisson can't keep out effort

The Liverpool goalkeeper will certainly not be blamed for the Everton opener but he may look back and think he could have done more. Branthwaite had the goal gaping but fired his shot straight at Alisson.

The Brazilian did manage to make good contact with the save but was diving across to his right, and the ball squirmed underneath him. Calvert-Lewin made sure but replays showed the ball had crossed the line.

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Gary Neville has tipped Liverpool to avoid making the same mistakes as Manchester United and Arsenal with its next manager appointment. The Premier League rivals both suffered slumps after the departures of stalwarts Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.

Liverpool faces a similar situation this summer with Jürgen Klopp bringing the curtain down on his Anfield tenure. But Neville believes the Reds are in a better position to that of his former club and Arsenal, when they made huge managerial changes.

Xabi Alonso was the early favorite for the job but opted to remain with Bayer Leverkusen, before Sporting CP's Rúben Amorim appeared to be next in line. But Arne Slot is the new clear frontrunner and the Daily Mail reports talks are progressing between Liverpool and Feyenoord.

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Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville commented on the Reds' search for a new boss, after Slot emerged as a leading candidate. Neville said: "He's a successful coach in Holland and I love Dutch coaches. Across history, they have some of the greatest coaches the game has ever produced.

"We don't know how it's going to go but the reality is we've seen the post Wenger at Arsenal has been difficult and the post Sir Alex Ferguson career at Manchester United has been difficult. Klopp is massive in Liverpool. They've got to try and get it right.

"What United and Arsenal had when they replaced those managers was quite a traditional, old-school approach where the manager ran the club. They didn't have the sporting director and recruitment. Liverpool have a better set-up, more depth and more modern structure. There is still an element of risk but it has to happen."

David Moyes and Unai Emery struggled at United and Arsenal respectively after replacing iconic managers. The pair have since proven themselves in the Premier League and elsewhere. Neville admits a different approach will be inevitable at Anfield.

He added: "Obviously there's a change going to Liverpool. Very different approach than Jürgen Klopp. I don't think they could ever appoint a manager that has the personality and character of Klopp. It's driven by Michael Edwards, he's got his way and now he's bringing in someone who he thinks going to take Liverpool forward."

Liverpool.com says: Neville is correct in his thinking. Liverpool put the the correct structure in place before it focused on the managerial hunt. With Edwards rejoining FSG and Richard Hughes appointed as sporting director, Liverpool has elite footballing brains making key decisions. They will hope to get this one right.

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Virgil van Dijk questioned the desire of his Liverpool teammates after a 2-0 defeat at Everton dealt a hammer blow to their Premier League title hopes.

Goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin saw Everton claim a historic first win over their local rivals at Goodison Park since 2010. It leaves Liverpool three points behind top-of-the-table Arsenal and just a point ahead of Manchester City, who have played two less games.

Van Dijk was among many Liverpool players who struggled with both goals coming from set pieces, the first after a number of errors as Reds stars attempted to clear their lines, while Darwin Núñez missed a golden opportunity at the other end in the first half. At half-time, Reds legend Jamie Carragher suggested Alexis Mac Allister had failed to follow two unwritten 'rules' of playing at Goodison Park and not allowing the crowd to get into the game.

Speaking to Sky Sports at full-time, Van Dijk did not hold back in a damning assessment of their performance as he asked if his teammates "really want to win the league?".

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Van Dijk said: “Listen, very disappointed in so many ways and I think everyone has to look in the mirror and look at their performance, if they really gave everything and do they really want to win the league?

“Obviously we’re fighting, and we still have games after tonight, but to play like we did, overall, in the game like today and not winning challenges, giving the ref and opportunity to give a free kick, like he did many times, then we have no chance to win the title.

“It’s a tough one, and we need to do much better against a side that’s playing against relegation and it’s now to focus on the 12:30 kickoff again.”

Asked if they had simply ran out of ideas, Van Dijk added: “I think you try to force things and I think we gave so many crosses where they can just clear it quite easily, and I still think we had, in the first half, clear cut chances that we should have scored.

“But eventually we weren’t good enough and it starts with the fight. Like I said, we all have to do much better and we can’t let the season go out like tonight. We have to do much better, in every sense, and it’s a tough one.”

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Liverpool should only be blaming itself after crashing out of the Premier League title race in the worst possible manner, with a loss to Everton at Goodison Park. In truth, the host deserved to win, simply looking more ready for the fixture.

Perhaps that's got something to do with Liverpool's physically and emotionally draining season, which since January has been billed as a grand send-off for manager Jürgen Klopp. Whatever the reason, this team has looked spent for weeks, and Sean Dyche made sure Everton punished that.

But there were fine margins at play too. Once again, Liverpool will rue some poor finishing, with Darwin Núñez, Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah all missing good chances.

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Meanwhile, Liverpool got one early let-off at the other end, when an offside call meant a penalty against Alisson was cancelled. But there was nearly a second reprieve for the Jarrad Branthwaite opener, as VAR went back to check a possible offside in the build-up.

Gary Neville predicted there could be a 'riot' at Goodison Park if this one was also ruled out. But the predominant emotion in the stands was joy rather than outrage, as the goal stood.

When the graphic was shown on-screen, a single green line was shown, in line with Branthwaite and final Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté. A single line being drawn means that the offside is extremely tight, and falls within what is known as the 'tolerance level' of the current technology available for offside calls.

In other words, Branthwaite may well have been offside, but it was too tight for technology currently in use to know for sure. And from next season, we will know more quickly and with more accuracy, with the Premier League set to introduce semi-automated offside technology.

The Premier League has been under increasing pressure to introduce the technology. Under this system, there will be no tolerance level, meaning that even if Branthwaite was beyond Konaté by the finest of margins, the goal would be chalked off.

Liverpool.com says: It's just one more thing to be frustrated about. Perhaps if Liverpool had got a second let-off, the game might have gone differently.

But in truth, that's hard to imagine. Liverpool looked rattled from the outset, the finishing has been a recurring problem, and clean sheets have been a rare commodity lately. If it wasn't the Branthwaite goal, the breakthrough would have come from somewhere else, such was the nature of the match.

Still, more accuracy from next season in the Premier League will theoretically be good, especially with those decisions being made more quickly. Delays have been a huge problem since the introduction of video technology.

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"You lost the league at Goodison Park," the Everton fans delighted in singing as time ran out for Liverpool. That is not quite true, of course, for the Reds, but they will need a miracle from here to win the Premier League.

With another Merseyside derby out of the way, it means there are only four matches left of the Jürgen Klopp era at Anfield. All of those are in the Premier League but the chances of the Reds sending him off on the biggest possible high are now almost zero.

Up next for Liverpool, with a quick turnaround from this game to the next, is a trip to face West Ham United in the early kick-off slot on Saturday. Klopp hates the short turnaround but that match would only have moved to Sunday this weekend had Arsenal beaten Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Once that didn't happen, it was confirmed for the earlier slot.

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Liverpool faces West Ham next, and then finishes the season with matches against Spurs and Wolves at Anfield with a trip to Aston Villa to take on Unai Emery's side at Villa Park in between. All of those fixtures could be tricky for different reasons.

While the Reds need perfection from their own games, they also need multiple favors from elsewhere for the campaign not to peter out with a whimper. Manchester City, the current leader in the Premier League title race relative to the number of matches that it has played, faces Brighton (away) tomorrow.

After the trip to Brighton, Manchester City is away at Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Still with another four matches after that double-header thanks to its games in hand, Pep Guardiola's side then faces Wolves (home), Fulham (away), Tottenham (away) and West Ham United (home). Out of the Champions League, it only has the league and the FA Cup final to focus on.

Arsenal, meanwhile, has the North London derby next. After beating Chelsea comfortably earlier in the week, the Gunners are away at Spurs this weekend and then will have played the same number of matches as Liverpool.

Mikel Arteta's side finishes the season with Bournemouth (home), Manchester United (away) and Everton (home). After demolishing Chelsea, it moved 13 ahead of Liverpool in the goal difference stakes. That looks much less important now Liverpool has lost important ground at the worst possible time.

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