Driven forward by Abdoulaye Doucouré, who netted a brace, Everton gave itself the kind of shock result that could yet be enough to stave off the threat of relegation for another season.

Depending on results elsewhere, there might still be more to do — and Manchester City is Sean Dyche’s side’s next opponent — but Everton is now outside of the bottom three having seen Leicester City ship five at Fulham earlier in the day. Absolutely no one saw that 5-1 victory at the Amex Stadium coming.

For Liverpool, as well as watching with interest for the future of its city rival, there was the more immediately-pressing concern of Brighton — a side seven points behind the Reds at kick-off, but then with three (and now two) games in hand.

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Its defeat to Everton means that Brighton’s Champions League hopes — or more accurately, its hopes of finishing above Liverpool — are no longer in the hands of Roberto de Zerbi’s men.

Brighton also has Newcastle, Arsenal and Manchester City to play, as well as Southampton and Aston Villa, meaning that it has the hardest run-in, on paper, of any European-chasing team.

Its defeat, though, shows that nothing can be taken for granted at this point in the campaign. Liverpool needs more surprise results, but no one would have seen Everton being three up at half-time being on the horizon.

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Manchester United is perhaps the most likely side to slip up. A repeat of that surprise Everton win would be nice, but that would not even be necessary. Liverpool — as long as it can avoid any shocks and win its final three fixtures — does not even need Erik ten Hag’s men to lose; only to draw, albeit twice.

Would Manchester United drawing with two of Wolves (H), Bournemouth (A), Chelsea (H) and Fulham (H) be that much of a surprise? Not as much as Everton winning so comfortably at high-flying Brighton.

Newcastle would need to drop points in three matches, with games against Leeds United (A), Brighton (H), Leicester (H) and Chelsea (A) coming up to end the campaign. That would be even more of a surprise, and would take a little more of a collapse, but even that is possible.

At the back end of the Premier League, especially in a season where things are so tight in almost all areas of the table, anything can happen. All Jürgen Klopp’s side can do is keep on winning, a Liverpool hopes for more shocks.

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