Everton looking to dent league leaders Liverpool's title chances, says defender Michael Keane

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Denting Liverpool`s Premier League title hopes will be the added motivation for Everton when they take on their arch-rivals in Sunday`s Merseyside derby, defender Michael Keane has said.

Liverpool are unbeaten in 18 games against their neighbours since a defeat in October 2018 and Keane said that hurting the leader's chances of winning a first league title since 1989-90 would please Everton fans.

"It`s not the main reason we want to win the game. We want to win the game for ourselves," Keane told Sky Sports.

"We`re chasing seventh place ourselves, but in the back of our heads, if we can take points off Liverpool and get a win, that will dent their title chances which is great. That should make the fans happy.

"We want to put in a performance and we want to win the game, and we want the fans to be happy. If that`s what they want, then that`s what we want."

Everton, who were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool in December, are ninth in the table with 36 points and Keane is confident that they can climb to seventh and come into contention for a place in the Europa League.

"Seventh position is still within our grasp. We know we`ve got the players capable of getting there, and we know we can put in the performances needed," the centre back added

"It`s just a case of being able to do it consistently, which we haven`t done for the last three months so we`re going to have to change and we`re going to have to improve. Hopefully, we can do that and find ourselves there come the end of the season.