People call it "the friendly derby." But only if they never played in it. When Everton and Liverpool meet, there is no quarter given.
"It's different," says Craig Johnston, the Australian who spent seven years at Anfield in the 1980s. "It's not like other games. You want to hurt each other. The tackles are more brutal, the challenges wilder. It's meatier than other matches."
Merseyside
Johnston's participation in the derby came before the modern era, but little has changed. More red cards have been shown in Liverpool vs. Everton matches than any other fixture in Premier League history. Red cards have been brandished 21 times -- 14 to Everton and seven to Liverpool.
The madness affects locals and outsiders in equal measure. Steven Gerrard, a born-and-bred Scouser, was sent off twice against Everton; Phil Neville, whose Mancunian antecedents make him as alien on Merseyside as any foreign import, equaled Gerrard's crime sheet by being red carded on two occasions. Neville was never sent off in 10 years and 263 appearances for Manchester United.
The intensity of feeling in the stands has a huge impact on the players. Johnston articulates it as well as anyone. "You feel sick beforehand," he says. "You know the whole city's mood depends on this game. You make a mistake and half the ground are laughing at you and half the ground is furious. If you dwell on the ball you get clattered. There's nothing else quite like it."
There is another dynamic at work. Often both sets of players socialise together. In the small world of Merseyside football, the combatants are frequently good friends. For 90 minutes, though, those relationships are put aside. Losing to rivals you rarely see is bad enough. Suffering defeat at the hands of someone you might bump into on a daily basis is insufferable.
Ramiro Funes Mori was the latest player to get caught up in the tumult in April, when his dreadful challenge on Divock Origi led to him seeing red. There will be similar levels of intensity on display at Goodison.
Both teams go into the match with their season at crucial junctures. Jurgen Klopp's team have hopes of conducting a title challenge and need the victory to close the nine-point gap opened up by Chelsea at the top of the table. For Everton, it is about resurrecting a season that has proved deeply disappointing.
The appointment of Ronald Koeman as manager raised expectations at Goodison. The injection of money by new owner Farhad Moshiri's gave rise to hopes that Everton could compete in the transfer market and sign the sort of players to catapult them into at least the Europa League positions. It has not worked out that way so far.
Everton struggled to secure their targets, Koeman's tactics have been questioned and although reinforcements like Morgan Schneiderlin are expected in January, an undermanned and ageing squad have been underwhelming.
The low point of the season came in the meek 5-0 defeat by Chelsea in November, breeding discontent around the club. Tuesday's 2-1 home victory over Arsenal lifted the mood going into the derby, though. Everton came from a goal behind and imposed their physicality on the Gunners to earn the win.
Across Merseyside, families whose lives run smoothly for most of the year will suffer disruption. Everton-supporting wives look at their Liverpool-fan husbands with contempt. Red sisters dream of glorying in their Blue brothers' misery. Close friends become antagonistic. For a few days before and after each derby, a city's togetherness comes under strain.
One story sums it up. In 2009, a Liverpool vs. Everton game caused two friends to fall out. They had known each other since the age of 7, were neighbours in dockside apartments overlooking the Mersey and shared the same cultural background and interests.
They had planned to meet after the game, share a meal and put the result of the match behind them. A fractious 90 minutes and a 2-0 Liverpool victory left both men furious, however. The get-together was abandoned and, for a short time, the boyhood mates were not on speaking terms.
It was not a pair of Scousers. The friends were Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta -- two players caught in the mood of the rivalry. The Basque duo soon made up, but their commitment on the pitch and reaction off it embodied the so-called friendly derby.
It is "meatier," but its divisiveness is short-lived. Rifts do not last long. Families and friends quickly resume their normal, close-knit relationships. The players move on. At least until the next derby day, that is.