Ibrahima Konate is probably hoping for better luck against Dominic Calvert-Lewin this week.

The Liverpool defender probably remembers his last game against the striker. Konate gave away a penalty against Leeds earlier this month. Calvert-Lewin scored, making it 2-1 after Hugo Ekitike's goal had put Liverpool up 2-0.

After that, the Reds fell apart. Leeds tied the game, and even though Dominik Szoboszlai put Liverpool ahead again, Leeds scored late to grab a point. And, of course, we all know what happened after the game with Mohamed Salah.

Konate will have another chance when Leeds comes to Anfield on New Year’s Day. But it's not just that game that's on the Frenchman’s mind.

Konate also had a bad time against Calvert-Lewin back when the England player was still at Everton. Liverpool's title hopes were disappearing during Jurgen Klopp’s last days as manager in 2024. The final blow came when the Reds lost 2-0 at Goodison Park.

Calvert-Lewin really gave Konate a hard time. A few minutes after he scored Everton’s second goal from a corner, Konate was taken out and replaced by Jarell Quansah.

Gary Neville, commenting on the game for Sky Sports, said, When Calvert-Lewin is playing well, he can cause problems for centre-backs.

Konate is a big guy, but Calvert-Lewin has gotten to him. Centre-backs don't like losing aerial battles, and Everton are good at them. He's got great energy, that Calvert-Lewin.

Konate was chosen to be Virgil van Dijk's partner, but it hasn't worked out. They can't handle Calvert-Lewin. He's outplaying Liverpool's centre-backs. He's on fire.

Neville continued to criticise after the game.

In his podcast, Neville said Liverpool seemed to be outmuscled in this game. I wouldn’t say outfought because Liverpool teams work hard, but Everton was stronger in the key moments in both boxes.

“Liverpool lost the game because they lost those battles in both boxes. They physically lost the important battles.

“That was unexpected. I was surprised that Konate, whom I thought was the right pick to play next to Van Dijk, was getting pushed around.

“I expected them to be strong and dominate in those areas.”

Konate hasn’t had a great season, and his performances haven't helped the negative opinions among fans as his contract nears its end.

Liverpool has the worst record in Europe’s top leagues when it comes to defending set pieces. It’s time for Konate to change things around, and playing well against Calvert-Lewin this week would be a good start.

After a three-game winless streak and a boring 0-0 draw with Burnley last weekend, the Toffees are trying to get back on track. Grealish was sick and missed the Burnley game, but Moyes is hoping he'll be back this week.

Earlier this month, Everton had a good run, even beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 at home and getting up to fifth place. Now they're down in 12th after losing to Chelsea and Arsenal and tying with Burnley. Moyes said the points difference isn't huge and the table is tight.

It's tough. Win a couple, and you could be fifth. Lose a couple, and you could be 15th, the Everton boss mentioned at the press conference before the game.

I don't know; with how the league is, we need to make sure we're in a good spot. That's why getting a point against Burnley, even though we wanted more, is still something, since it was their home game and they needed it too.

Right now, we want to keep grabbing points and adding to our total. We wanted three against Burnley, but we didn't play well enough to deserve it.

Even though the Blues won against the Tricky Trees pretty easily at Hill Dickinson Stadium, they can't get too comfortable. Everton will miss Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who helped score two goals in that game, and Iliman Ndiaye. On the other hand, Forest will have their reliable centre-back Murillo back, who missed the last game on Merseyside.

Don't underestimate Nottingham Forest. They made it to Europe last year, were doing well in the league, and played great, getting good results. "Their team is way better than where they are in the league right now," Moyes said.

The Forest game was special for young striker Thierno Barry. After joining Villarreal this summer, the French U21 international wasn't scoring much until he finally got his first goal for Everton in that 3-0 win against Forest.

Of course, Everton hasn't scored since that December 6 win and has had three straight games without a goal, which is starting to worry Moyes and his staff.

Talking about Barry, Moyes said, “I think he's played okay in some games. Even today, when he came on, the keeper made a good save. He's getting better.

“We've tried to let him play enough so he can be confident and show what he can do. But all our strikers need to score, because that's what you need from a number nine. He's got one goal, and Beto has one too, which isn't enough. We need more goals.”

It'll be interesting to see if Barry starts against Forest again after Beto played instead of him in the Burnley game.