With hindsight, there was more than a whiff of inevitability about who the victors of the 240th Merseyside derby would be once the No.27 had flashed up on the substitutes' board.
Having witnessed his Liverpool side toil and tussle to no avail, Jurgen Klopp had seen enough by the hour mark. Enter Divock Origi, the famous Everton scourge.
Within moments of his arrival, his hold-up play allowed Mohamed Salah to cross for Andy Robertson for the opening goal before he put the seal on proceedings with a header past Jordan Pickford late on.
It was, in so many ways, a poetic piece of symmetry to a Liverpool stay that is surely into its final weeks. It was back in December 2018 when Origi revived a career that was flatlining at Anfield courtesy of a close-range header. At the Kop End. Against Everton.
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Four years later, the Belgian might just have bookended things in the exact same manner with the sixth career goal against the Blues. If it is to be his last meaningful act in Liverpool red, there can be no more fitting contribution.
But, given Origi's flair for unlikely heroism since that derby-day winner in 2018, don't rule out one more memorable moment from the No.27 between now and the end of the season.
After the aberration that was this fixture last season when the Reds were beaten for the first time at home in the derby since 1999, it seems order has been restored at Anfield.
Weeks like this - ones that have seen both Everton and Manchester United so dismissively dispatched - do not come along every season. The gaze may remain firmly fixed on the bigger picture of a potentially wondrous campaign-for-the-ages, but what a few days it has been for supporters here. These will be a few days they will reflect on with much joy in years to come.
Regardless of what is and isn't achieved between now and the end of the season, Reds fans can toast to a couple of hugely satisfying triumphs over the old rivals this week.
And now the question Everton won't want to ponder can be posed with genuine sincerity: when was the last time the disparity between the pair was this evident?
Sunday's win takes the Reds a gigantic 50 points clear of the Blues, which was the same difference between the sides in 2020 when a 99-point haul sealed a first league title in 30 years at Anfield.
With 15 points still to play for too, that canyon-wide chasm will surely only grow before the final whistle blows on a term that is becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend for both sets of fans. Even if it is for the most wildly of contrasting reasons.
As unpalatable a statement as those of a Blue faith may find this, the Merseyside derby is now a rivalry based solely on geography alone and should Frank Lampard prove unsuccessful in his aim of simply retaining top-flight status for Everton, it might even be one that ceases to exist at all next season.
However much delight some Liverpool fans extract from the schadenfreude of their neighbours' plight - and judging by the chants of "going down" throughout the game, there are plenty - that will be a sad by-product of next season if it does come to pass.
Despite Wednesday's Champions League semi-final with Villarreal, Klopp made just two changes for this one, recalling Diogo Jota and Naby Keita for Luis Diaz and Jordan Henderson, while Lampard was forced into an unwanted one before kick-off after Ben Godfrey pulled up injured in the warm-up before he was replaced by Michael Keane.
Burnley's 1-0 win at home to Wolves before this game kicked off was enough to send Lampard's men into the bottom three and it never looked like they were going to muster a response against a side they have now won only once against in 26.
Liverpool's first half was characterised by its lack of any real energy or chances of note for either side. Anthony Gordon was booked for diving when trying to con Stuart Attwell into giving a penalty and Richarlison provoked the full wrath of the Kop for what they viewed as a succession of exaggerated injuries designed only to waste time.
Indeed, after earlier being cautioned for diving, Gordon was again denied a spot-kick in the second after going down under a challenge from Joel Matip. It was a decision that enraged Lampard and left the young attacker furiously muttering to an Everton official about the call as he made his way through the post-match mixed zone.
His post-match face-palm emoji in a tweet that showed the incident in full laid bare just how harshly he felt he was treated by referee Attwell.
As poor as it was to watch as a spectacle, Lampard will have been delighted at the break as a compact and stubborn Everton limited the Reds to anything beyond a couple of hopeful efforts from Salah and Sadio Mane.
The Blues' 32 completed passes was the lowest in a Premier League first half since 2006, but the visiting end were more than pleased by their side's efforts in stifling Liverpool.
The arrival of Luis Diaz and Origi at the 60-minute mark was the catalyst and the changes had an instant impact. After receiving the ball with his back to goal Origi held it up before feeding Salah and his clipped cross was met by the head of Andy Robertson at the back post. The ball was in the Everton net within two minutes of the subs coming on.
The tireless Jota was replaced for captain Henderson as Klopp sought to gain more control in the final 10 minutes following a decent spell of counter-attacking from Everton and in particular Gordon, who can rightly be pleased with own efforts.
And then came Origi's moment, cementing Liverpool as derby winners with a header late on. The perfect way to sign off from a fixture he has seemingly made his own.
