The Merseyside Derby’s all-time most prolific goal scorers

The 241st Merseyside Derby will take place this weekend, and we have taken a look at the top five all-time goal scorers from the historic fixture.

Liverpool will be looking to build on their 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth on Saturday, while Everton look for their first win of the season at Goodison Park.

Both teams would definitely love to have some of these legends playing for them again. 

 

1. Ian Rush (Liverpool) - 20 goals

Ian Rush aka “The Ghost” is Liverpool’s all-time top scorer with 346 goals in 660 appearances for the Reds, and he simply loved scoring against Everton, netting 20 in his seven years at Anfield. 

He also holds the record for the joint-most goals scored by a player in the Merseyside Derby, scoring four in the 1983/84 season in a 5-0 victory at Goodison Park (which must have been one terrible day for Evertonians). 

In his career with Liverpool, Rush won five league titles, three FA Cups, five League Cups and two European cups. The Welshman and (ironically) boyhood Evertonian is widely regarded as one of, if not THE best Liverpool player of all time. 

 

2. Dixie Dean (Everton) - 19 goals

Everton’s greatest ever centre-forward and the first ever player to wear a number nine shirt (with Everton and Manchester City being the first teams to wear numbers in the 1933 FA Cup final when Everton wore 1-11, and City 12-22), William Ralph ‘Dixie’ Dean is a legendary figure who still holds the record for the most goals in an English league season, with 60 in the 1927-28 campaign and he scored plenty against Liverpool too. 

The OG number nine netted 19 times in 22 games against Liverpool, making him Everton’s most prolific Merseyside Derby goalscorer. 

Dean famously said, “I used to stick the ball in the net and then bow three times to the Kop, they never liked me doing that!”

Dixie scored a near-supernatural 350 goals in 400 appearances for the Blues. He also had a great record for England, netting 18 goals in 16 matches for his country. 

Dean is one of Everton’s greatest-ever players and is immortalised by a statute outside Goodison Park.

 

3. Alex ‘Sandy’ Young (Everton) - 12 goals

Everton’s fourth all-time top scorer Alex ‘Sandy’ Young (not to be confused with Alex ‘the Golden Vision’ Young) loved scoring against Liverpool, netting 12 times in 18 appearances against the Reds, in a 10-year stint at Goodison between 1901 and 1911.

Young was not an out-and-out centre forward but actually played mostly as an inside-right or a right winger, with a powerful right-footed shot that was incredibly prolific. 

He remains an Everton legend after helping them to secure their first ever FA Cup win, scoring the winning goal in the 1906 final, with the Toffees beating Newcastle United 1-0.

 

4. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) - 10 goals

A man who needs no introduction, Steven Gerrard was pretty much universally hated by Evertonians during his 17-year stint at Anfield, and for good reason, as he scored 10 goals against the team he (allegedly) supported as a youngster. 

In his 710 appearances for the Reds, he scored 186 goals and made 154 assists across all competitions, averaging 0.48 goal contributions per game… an amazing tally for a central midfielder.

Gerrard is undoubtedly an LFC legend: the club captain won two FA Cups, three League Cups and a Champions League, but scoring against the Blues on a regular basis must have also helped him gain popularity with the Anfield faithful. 

These days, Gerrard is managing Aston Villa in the Premier League and he currently has his work cut out to turn things around.

 

5. Harry Chambers (Liverpool) - 8 goals

Harry Chambers played his football for Liverpool during the late 1910s and 1920s and is still regarded as one of the best forwards to ever wear the red jersey. 

After serving in WW1 with the Irish Regiment, Chambers returned home and became a Liverpool legend.

Harry ‘Smiler’ Chambers was LFC’s top scorer for four consecutive seasons from 1919-20 to 1922-23 and was key in their back-to-back title-winning campaigns in the 1920-21 and 1921-22 seasons, scoring an incredible 41 goals in 71 games.

In total, he scored 151 goals in 338 matches for Liverpool, including eight against his local rivals Everton, averaging an impressive 0.45 goals per game for the Reds.