Premier League legend Alan Shearer has heaped praise on Everton duo Nathan Patterson and Jordan Pickford after they helped stifle Liverpool's attack during Saturday's goalless Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.
Shearer, who is of course the Premier League's outright leading goalscorer with 260 strikes to his name, selected the Blues duo in his Team of the Week despite Frank Lampard's side still winless in the Premier League so far this season.
England's No.1, Pickford, was named the BT Sport Man of the Match on Saturday afternoon for his heroics, as he made crucial saves from Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and further stops to deny substitute Roberto Firmino during the second-half, leaving Jurgen Klopp and his side ruing their lack of attacking edge.
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Everton themselves, while they could have easily lost the fixture without the power of Pickford between the sticks, also walked off the Goodison Park turf regretting their missed chances in front of goal, as debutant Neal Maupay had a glorious opportunity to claim the Blues' first home triumph over their city rivals since October 2010.
Explaining his reasonings for selecting the two Evertonians in his Team of the Week, Shearer said; "He [Pickford] made several superb saves to frustrate Liverpool.”
On Patterson, he added: "Immense all game in everything he did, both when defending and going forward.”
It felt like a coming-of-age performance from the Scotsman who was signed from Rangers in January after attracting interest from teams around Europe. Forced to deal with the trickery of Luis Diaz, who has arguably been the Reds' best player this campaign, the 20-year-old was dominant in his duals all afternoon and worked tirelessly in attack and defence to ensure Anthony Gordon had constant support on the right-hand side to trouble the Liverpool defence.
Everton currently sit 16th in the Premier League table and face a trip to high-flying Arsenal this weekend.
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