3rd February

Double debutants
1991 - Kenny Dalglish’s final signing David Speedie scored on his reds debut to equalise a Steve Bruce penalty as we drew 1-1 with Manchester United at Old Trafford. It was the first of his six goals in just fourteen games for us.
1894 - Left-half William Hughes made his only reds appearance in a 4-0 home League defeat of Northwich Victoria. Duncan McLean scored from the spot, with our other goals coming from Harry Bradshaw and a Jimmy Stott brace, his last goals for the club.

Mixed derby fortunes
1968 - Our last defeat on this day for over fifty years came in a League derby at Goodison Park, when Howard Kendall netted the only goal of the game, with Chris Lawler making his 200th reds appearance.
2007 - We were held to a goalless draw at Anfield, with Craig Bellamy having a goal disallowed. Rafael Benítez angered Blues fans by correctly referring to them as a “smaller team” in the aftermath of this game.

1990 - Our other first-class derby brought a 2-1 win at Anfield thanks to a John Barnes goal and a penalty from Peter Beardsley, with Graeme Sharp heading in the Blues’ goal, one of his seven against us.
1945 - We lost a Wartime League fixture at Goodison, with future reds boss Phil Taylor on target in a 4-1 defeat.

On the way to Wembley
1965 - We set off towards our first ever FA Cup triumph, winning our Third Round replay 2-0 at Stockport County, who were then bottom of the Fourth Division. This was the first domestic game in which we wore our new all-red strip, with Roger Hunt grabbing both goals.
1917 - We also visited Edgeley Park when our Wartime League fixture ended goalless.

Big wins
We have had two big wins on this day in recent years.
2002 - A Rio Ferdinand own goal, brace from Emile Heskey and an injury time Michael Owen strike handed us a 4-0 win at Leeds United.
2001 - We beat West Ham United 3-0 at home, a game which saw the relatively unusual sight of a substitute himself being substituted, Nick Barmby in this case. Vladimír Šmicer opened the scoring, with Robbie Fowler netting twice.

Even at the Etihad
2013 - We drew 2-2 at Manchester City. Edin Džeko opened the scoring with one of his five strikes against the reds. Ex-Sky Blue Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard put us in front before Sergio Agüero levelled the scores after Pepe Reina rashly rushed off his line, one of his seven goals past us.
1973 – We were held to a goalless draw by City in an FA Cup Fourth Round tie at Anfield, before being knocked out in the replay four days later.

Award winners
2008 - Martin Škrtel was named Slovakia’s Player of the Year for 2007, with boss Rafael Benítez being awarded with an Honorary Doctorate from the Miguel Hernandez University (Elche) in Spain on the same day, although he did not receive the honour for another four months.
2013 - Steven Gerrard was named the FA England Player of the Year at a ceremony at St. George’s Park, with clubmate Jordan Henderson winning the Under-21’s Player of the Year award. On the same day, future reds loanee Victor Moses featured for Nigeria as they beat the Ivory Coast 2-1 in the Quarter-final of the African Cup of Nations in South Africa.

Ally’s rare strike
1979 - Ally Brown headed in one of only four opposition goals in the League at Anfield that season, although it was only the consolation in our 2-1 defeat of West Bromwich Albion. Kenny Dalglish and David Fairclough were on target for the reds in what was our first League game of the year, due to persistent bad weather as we replaced the Baggies at the top of the table.

Half a century for Shanks
1962 - Bill Shankly led the reds to his fiftieth League win in his ninetieth game in charge. Brighton & Hove Albion were the visitors to Anfield, with Gerry Byrne scoring his first reds goal and Roger Hunt and Ian St. John also netting in our 3-1 victory, after we had been behind at half time.

Earning our Spurs
1934 - Berry Nieuwenhuys struck twice as we beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 at Anfield, with Gordon Hodgson netting from the spot. George Hunt struck the first of his five goals against the reds.
1996 - We entertained the north London outfit again, although this time the match ended goalless. Future Spur John Scales made his fiftieth League appearance for the reds in this game.

Mixed fortunes against the Cottagers
1951 - We beat Fulham 2-0 in a First Division meeting at Anfield with Bill Jones and Billy Liddell on the scoresheet.
1912 - We lost 3-0 at Craven Cottage in a Second Round FA Cup tie, with Tim Coleman bagging the last two of his nine goals past us and Herbert Pearce also on target. This was Tom Watson’s 600th game in charge, while William Stuart appeared for the fifth and final time.

Most recently
2021 – Brighton & Hove Albion won 1-0 behind closed doors at Anfield as we failed to score in three consecutive home games for the first time since October 1984.

Alexis at the double
2020 – Future red Alexis Mac Allister bagged a brace, scoring in his third consecutive game for Argentina Under-23’s as they beat Uruguay 3-2 in an Olympics qualifier in Colombia.

Happy birthdays
1931 – Right-back John Molyneux was born in Warrington. He signed from Chester for £5,500 in June 1955, bagging three goals in 249 games, but did not survive Bill Shankly’s early clear-out, returning to his former club in August 1962.
2001 – Centre-half Rhys Williams was born in Preston. He has made nineteen senior appearances since turning pro in February 2019, also spending much of his time out on loan.

On the move
1995 - Steve Harkness joined First Division Southend United on loan. He played six times while at Roots Hall, before returning to establish himself in the reds first-team.
2011 - Dietmar Hamann joined Leicester City as a First Team Coach, working under Sven-Göran Eriksson for the rest of the season.
2021 – Czech keeper Vitezslav Jaros joined Irish Premier League side St. Patrick's Athletic on loan, being named as their Player of the Year and helping them to claim the FAI Cup.

In comes Harry
1936 - Right-half Harry Eastham signed from Blackpool on a free transfer. His career was badly interrupted by the Second World War as he bagged four goals in 68 reds games, but he did help us to claim the League title in 1947 before joining Tranmere Rovers in May 1948.

Making the Final
2022 – Mohamed Salah captained Egypt as they were held to a goalless draw by Cameroon in their Africa Cup of Nations Semi-final in Yaoundé, before they progressed in a penalty shoot-out. Ex-red Kevin Stewart featured for Jamaica as they lost a World Cup qualifier 1-0 to Costa Rica in Kingston on the same day.

Stevie’s day
1996 - Steven Gerrard made his debut for England Under-16’s, coming on as a substitute in their 4-0 thumping of Denmark.
2008 - Gerrard was named England’s best player for 2007 by the visitors to TheFA.com.
2009 – He was voted the PFA Fans’ Player of the Month for January 2009.

Other reds games
1923 – We won an FA Cup Second Round tie 2-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers, thanks to goals from Dick Johnson and Dick Forshaw. We were knocked out by Sheffield United at Anfield at the next hurdle.
1906 – Alf West scored as we beat Barnsley 1-0 at the same stage in a game that was moved from Oakwell to Anfield. We reached the Semi-final where we lost out to Everton that campaign.
1900 – We defeated Blackburn Rovers 3-1 in a top-flight encounter in L4. Jack Cox struck twice with Tommy Robertson also on target.

International reds
1900 – Ex-red Robert Neill won his second and last cap for Scotland in their 5-2 defeat of Wales in the British International Championships at Pittodrie.
1945 - Matt Busby skippered Scotland as they lost 3-2 to England in a Wartime international at Villa Park. Fellow reds Willie Fagan, Jim Harley and Billy Liddell all also played.
1971 – Emlyn Hughes played for England in their 1-0 European Championships qualifying win in Malta.

1988 – Future red Ronnie Rosenthal played as Israel lost a friendly 2-0 to Romania in Haifa.
1998 – Future reds goalkeeping coach Cláudio Taffarel played as Brazil were held to a goalless draw in their CONCACAF Gold Cup group game in Miami.
2004 - Ex-red Daniel Sjölund won his first cap as an official Djurgårdens IF player, winning his third cap as a substitute in Finland’s 2-1 friendly defeat by China in Guangzhou. On the same day, ex-red Rigobert Song captained Cameroon as they drew 0-0 with Egypt in an Africa Cup of Nations Finals group game in Tunisia.

Signing on
2015 – Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho signed a new contract until 2020, later further extended. He went on to notch 54 times in 201 reds games before moving on to Barcelona for a mammoth initial £105m fee in January 2018.