For much of the game, it was a scrappy affair. Liverpool and Everton mustered just seven shots on target between them in the 90 minutes and neither side reached a full expected goal. It finished 2-2, but that came from some excellent finishing.
The game was a fiery one, which the referee Michael Oliver, treading a very fine line and producing some questionable decisions, just about managed to keep under control until it boiled over at the end. Abdoulaye Doucoure provoked the Liverpool fans and Curtis Jones, and Arne Slot, before he knew it, had been sent off too.
All of that chaos, though, needs to be swiftly forgotten. Jones won't be playing against Wolves at the weekend and Slot won't be in the dugout due to suspension, but Liverpool simply has to move on swiftly.
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"The ref didn't have the game under control in my opinion," Virgil van Dijk told TNT Sports. "I said it to him. I don't know what it is but both teams have to deal with it. Listen, it is what it is. We take a point and move on."
Making sure to get his point across regarding the officiating, Van Dijk got it right in the end. Liverpool does need to move on quickly and it remains in an overwhelmingly strong position in the Premier League standings.
There were positives, too. This was the 40th time that Mohamed Salah has both scored and assisted in the same Premier League match. The Egyptian has never really had a Goodison game where he takes it by the scruff of the neck quite like this.
It was only James Tarkowski's brilliant late strike that found the back of Alisson Becker's net that denied him. The story was the occasion — the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park — but Salah very nearly made it all about him.
The Liverpool talisman is now on a frankly ridiculous 27 goals and 19 assists in 35 games this season. Against Bournemouth, he was the difference; against Everton, he was seconds away from doing the same in consecutive crucial away fixtures.
At one end, Salah was decisive. At the other, another rested player — Van Dijk — was busy. He and his partner, Ibrahima Konate, had to deal with the lively Beto and just about stood up to the task.
In the end, a point was something that suited both teams. Everton got the big moment as the long farewell to Goodison Park begins; Liverpool has a seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League table which it should be able to cash in on.
While a win would have been huge for Liverpool — hence the brief shouts of "We won the league at Goodison Park" from the away end — a point is no bad result. In the final Goodison derby, it is fitting really; all but three of the fixtures there under Jurgen Klopp were drawn, so what's one more? In the long term, it shouldn't make much difference.
