Everton star Amadou Onana mistakenly shoved Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimikas to escalate a mass brawl during Monday's Merseyside derby.
As Liverpool ran out 2-0 winners at Anfield thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo, which were all too easy from Everton's point of view, tempers flared in the latter stages. In the 86th minute, Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford needlessly barged into Andy Robertson, prompting the Liverpool ace to react and a number of their respective team-mates join the ruckus.
But just as things seemed to be calming down, Everton forward Demarai Gary felt a shove in his back - from a steward. Not knowing who the culprit was, Gray saw Tsimikas standing next to the sheepish-looking member of security and proceed to push him before receiving some backup from Onana.
The £33million Belgian, who'd been taken off by manager Sean Dyche just eight minutes before the fracas, took aim at substitute Tsimikas, who stood up for himself while being dragged away by Liverpool fitness coach Andreas Kornmayer. As the Greek left-back was taken back to his seat in the dugout, it took three stewards to stop the 6ft 4in Onana from pursuing him. During the carnage, Sky Sports commentator and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher warned the 21-year-old midfielder not to do "something stupid."
Tsimikas' return to the bench marked the end of the incident which only saw Pickford and Robertson booked by referee Simon Hooper. Conor Coady notably avoided punishment, despite being shown to have put his hand on Robertson's neck at the beginning of the melee and repeatedly telling him to "f*** off" in front of the traveling Everton fans.
Virgil van Dijk, another unused Liverpool substitute like Tsimikas, also weighed in on the brawl with his towering frame, while striker Darwin Nunez taunted his opponents by reminding them of the 2-0 scoreline. If Everton had contested the previous 85 minutes in the same vein, they may've stood a chance of coming away from Anfield with at least a draw.
Unfortunately for the Toffees, who remain in the relegation zone with 16 games to go, they couldn't pull off another surprise result after miraculously beating league leaders Arsenal 1-0 last Saturday. Following Monday's derby disappointment, Dyche and co must turn their focus to this weekend's mammoth clash with fellow strugglers Leeds, who currently sit one point above Everton in safety.
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Encouragingly for Toffees supporters, Dyche believes that there's "more to come" from his side. "All games are important but it's fair to say people were wondering if we would get a point from our first two games. To get three - I'm not too disappointed with that," the newly-appointed boss, who recently replaced Frank Lampard, told BBC Sport after his second game in charge.
"I'm a realist and I know how tough the Premier League is. There is more to come from this side. They have taken a lot on in a short space of time. We need to recover quickly and go again."
