Schalke midfielder Lewis Holtby has Premier League offer

The 22-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and has previously expressed a wish to play in the Premier League in the future.

He is a boyhood Everton fan, but reports over the weekend suggested Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers wants to bring Holtby to Anfield.

Inter Milan have also been linked with the player, but Holtby's agent Markus Noack says no decision has yet been taken regarding where he will be next season.

"We are talking with Schalke about a possible extension for another three years," Noack told calciomercato.com.

"Talks are going well at the moment but the situation has definitely changed in the last period because several offers from Spain and England came in.

"Lewis is very good at Schalke but above all there is an English club which has made a very interesting proposal.

"My client will have to decide whether to continue to grow in Germany or to try a new experience at the end of this season.

"Inter Milan? We have not received any proposals from Italy and he would prefer [to play in] the Premier League and La Liga."

Hamburg star Heung-Min Son is yet to open talks over a new contract

A host of clubs including Liverpool have been linked with the Asian marksman, who has scored five goals in nine appearances so far this season.

But despite speculation that he was ready to pen a new long-term contract, with his current deal due to expire in 2014, Son admits that he is not aware of any talks.

He told the Hamburger Morgenpost: "I am yet unaware if I am to sign a new deal with Hamburger SV this winter.

"Still there is no doubt I am very happy about the circumstance of being a player of Hamburger SV. I like the club and I love the fans as much as they love me."

Everton remain six points clear of Liverpool after 2-2 draw

Leighton Baines' own goal and Luis Suarez's header were cancelled out by Leon Osman and Steven Naismith in a helter-skelter opening half, with Suarez's injury-time disallowed effort adding late controversy.

Kevin Mirallas created early danger when he weaved his way down the inside-left channel but Martin Skrtel was on hand to cut out his driven cross.

Moments later Jose Enrique skipped free down the left and his delivery found its way to Suarez, whose drilled cross-shot flew in off the back of Baines' leg (14).

If Suarez's celebratory swan dive in front of the home bench angered the Everton faithful, their mood darkened further when the Uruguayan stole in to glance home a header from Steven Gerrard's free-kick (20).

Osman (22) gave the home side an instant lift as Brad Jones' weak punch fell perfectly for the Everton midfielder to slot home from 18 yards, courtesy of a slight deflection off Joe Allen.

Suarez was threatening at the other end while Jones was again unconvincing dealing with a high ball under pressure as both defences looked bereft of confidence.

The Liverpool keeper was helpless when Naismith timed his run perfectly to meet Marouane Fellaini's clipped cross to claim the equaliser with his first goal for Everton (35).

Andre Wisdom's cross just eluded Suarez but Raheem Sterling then produced a horrendous shank when clean through on Tim Howard.

The Everton keeper parried Gerrard's long-range free-kick while Nikica Jelavic, who had struggled all afternoon, planted a free header wide.

A prone Phil Jagielka denied Gerrard a late winner while Baines had to be alert to deny a darting Suarez as ill-will trumped skill in a niggly final quarter.

Suarez thought he had won it deep in added time as he latched onto Sebastian Coates' knockdown, but his flicked finish was ruled out for a debatable offside decision.

Liverpool had fielded five derby debutant s - Sterling, Andre Wisdom, Nuri Sahin, Suso and Joe Allen - with Everton having just two in Kevin Mirallas and Naismith.

That may have contributed to what was a first 45 minutes so open it belied its history of being the oldest and longest-running cross-city rivalry in English football.

There was also the sight of Suarez's reaction to the opening goal as he raced to the dug-out to dive full-length in front of Toffees boss David Moyes after his pre-match comments about players going to ground easily.

Ironically, later in the half, it was one of Moyes' own players Phil Neville who was booked for diving on the edge of Liverpool's penalty area.

Derbies can do strange things to people - highlighted by Neville's diving aberration - and the sight of Tim Howard, one of football's genuine nice guys, hurtling out of his goal in an attempt to get 17-year-old Sterling sent off for what he thought was a second bookable offence was also ungentlemanly and unnecess ary.

Everton	Team Statistics	Liverpool
2	Goals	2
2	1st Half Goals	2
4	Shots on Target	3
9	Shots off Target	8
3	Blocked Shots	2
9	Corners	5
17	Fouls	19
3	Offsides	3
4	Yellow Cards< /td>	3
0	Red Cards	0
78.5	Passing Success	76.8
20	Tackles	23
55	Tackles Success	82.6
56.2	Possession	43.8
59.8	Territorial Advantage	40.2
400	Total Passes	314
34	Total Crosses	17
168	Lost Balls	158
55	Recoveries	64
55.9	1st Half Poss.	44.1
56.2	2nd Half Poss.	43.8

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers felt officials wrong to disallow Luis Suarez's goal

Luis Suarez had his effort in the dying embers of the game controversially ruled out for offside when television replays showed the striker was clearly onside when he put the ball past Tim Howard.

Rodgers admitted the decision was hard to take, but he declared himself proud of his players after marking his first Merseyside derby with a draw.

"I think everyone has seen it was a clear goal, fantastic header by Sebastian and obviously he has timed his run perfectly Luis, but sometimes it happens like that," Rodgers told Sky Sports.

"It was a wonderful game and I am very, very proud of the team today. Everton are a strong side and they have started very well and we are still getting together and defining how we play, but I thought we were fantastic today.

"But I had to make a tactical change at half-time as there were a lot of direct balls, no great build-up play and we had to deal with a lot of aerial balls in the box, so we flipped it to a back three and five in midfield and two up front to still give us that possibility to attack better and I thought it worked really well for us.

"It was a wonderful game, but obviously we would have preferred three points, but a point was the least that we deserved.

"I was very proud of the team. I thought the young players were fantastic and showed great courage and right the way through the team it was a good point for us."

Rodgers also singled out man of the match Suarez for special praise after an all-action display from the Uruguayan.

"I thought he was outstanding," continued Rodgers. "He is so clever and bright and second half we put Raheem Sterling up with him and I thought he was brilliant as well.

"Luis he gets a little bit of stick but his performance level on the field and every day in training he is a joy to work with and when he plays with quality like he has done today he deserved a hat-trick and only the officials denied h im that."

Everton v Liverpool preview

Everton manager David Moyes is hopeful midfielder Marouane Fellaini and full-back Tony Hibbert will be fit for Sunday's Merseyside derby.

Fellaini missed last weekend's draw with QPR because of a knee injury while Hibbert has not played for more than a month after sustaining a calf problem.

Midfielder Darron Gibson (thigh) is still sidelined and playmaker Steven Pienaar serves a one-match ban after his controversial sending-off at Loftus Road.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers will continue to monitor the condition of goalkeeper Jose Reina.

Reina has been nursing a hamstring problem picked up on international duty with Spain and missed the win over Reading last Saturday and yesterday's Europa League victory against Anzhi Makhachkala, but has been back in training at the Reds' Melwood complex.

Rodgers has no fresh injury concerns, with Martin Kelly (knee), Lucas Leiva (thigh) and Fabio Borini (foot) remaining sidelined.

Everton ( from): Howard, Distin, Jagielka, Baines, Hibbert, Neville, Osman, Fellaini, Jelavic, Mucha, Gueye, Heitinga, Anichebe, Mirallas, Naismith, Oviedo, Coleman, Vellios, Hitzlsperger.

Liverpool (from): Reina, Jones, Johnson, Enrique, Agger, Coates, Carragher, Skrtel, Wisdom, Robinson, Sahin, Gerrard, Cole, Henderson, Downing, Allen, Sterling, Shelvey, Suarez, Assaidi, Suso, Yesil.

Rodgers wants ref to stay strong

Clashes between the Reds and their local rivals Everton have often been feisty affairs in recent times, with several red cards being produced.

Rodgers has expressed his unhappiness this season with the way his team have been treated by officials, and with that and the likely intensity of this weekend's Premier League encounter in mind, the manager is keen to see that referee Andre Marriner ensures "everything is in control" on the day.

Speaking ahead of what will be his first Merseyside derby as a player or boss, Rodgers said: "I have seen it over the years - the real firecrackers of games, full of intensity and passion, which they should be because that is what derbies are about.

"But it is also important to stay calm, and I think the referee has a big part to play in it as well because I have also seen over the games some of the challenges. I think the history of this game shows there have been a lot of red cards.

"I would hope this week end that we might get a decision that goes our way for once."

He added: "The Merseyside derby is a terrific game full of passion and quality, and I just hope the referee in Andre can really ensure that everything is in control and that the football is what is talked about."

Everton are currently fourth in the table after making an impressive start to the season and there has been talk about their chances of sustaining their form for the rest of the campaign to secure a Champions League berth.

The Toffees are six points ahead of 12th-placed Liverpool, who are still finding their feet under their new manager following Rodgers' appointment over the summer.

The Reds head into Sunday's game with some momentum, though, having beaten Reading last Saturday 1-0 and then Anzhi Makhachkala by the same score in the Europa League last night.

Those results made it three consecutive clean sheets including the 0-0 league draw with Stoke, and Rodgers has em phasised that his team are full of confidence right now.

"Everton have started well and there is obviously talk of them being in the top four," Rodgers said.

"They obviously feel they have the quality and experience to go and do that.

"For us, it is really about taking it game by game and looking to improve, and that is certainly what we are doing at the moment.

"The players have a real strong mentality at the moment. We have three clean sheets in the last three games, we have got some victories and the confidence is really high."

Rodgers will continue to monitor the condition of goalkeeper Jose Reina ahead of Sunday's contest.

Reina has been nursing a hamstring problem picked up on international duty with Spain and missed the Reading and Anzhi matches, but has been back in training at the Reds' Melwood complex.

Meanwhile, Rodgers says all his players will on Sunday once again be warming up sporting the T-shirts endorsing the 'Kick It Out' anti-racism campaign.

As a means of showing their dissatisfaction at the amount being done to address racism in football, a number of players at other clubs refused to wear the T-shirts last weekend.

Asked if all his players would have them on again, Rodgers said: "Yes.

"We obviously had our game with that (at home against Reading), and now it is Everton's game this weekend. But we will support that."

Downing drives Reds to top spot

Downing cracked home an unstoppable effort from outside the box in the 53rd minute after coming in from the left flank to send the Reds top of Group A.

The win was no less than the Reds deserved having been the better side for much of the contest, and they now lead the group with six points from three games.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers fielded a strong side including the likes of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez, resisting the temptation to rest a host of players ahead of Sunday's Premier League derby at Everton and making only three changes from the win over Reading on Saturday.

It was clear Rodgers was not about to underestimate nouveaux riche Anzhi, who lead the Russian top-flight, and are overseen by one-time Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink and had former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o up front.

The Reds were looking to bounce back from a 3-2 home defeat to Udinese in their previous Europa League outing and made a positiv e start without fashioning anything to really trouble visiting goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov.

He easily collected a shot from Suarez in the 12th minute and then pushed away an effort by Glen Johnson before Jonjo Shelvey - scorer of three goals in the previous two group games - ballooned an attempt over the bar from the edge of the box.

Eto'o had been relatively quiet, miscontrolling on the occasion when the ball had come to him in a useful position in the area, and Liverpool continued to carve out half-chances, with Oussama Assaidi seeing Gabulov get behind his strike to the near post and then catching his free-kick.

Johnson found himself through on goal in the 35th minute, but failed to get a shot in and took a tumble under the attentions of Kamil Agalarov, with the referee waving the Reds defender's penalty claims away.

Nuri Sahin headed a corner over and Daniel Agger was next to make a foray forward from defence, trying his luck from distance wit h an effort that curled high and wide.

Anzhi registered an attempt on goal in first-half stoppage-time when Fedor Smolov fizzed the ball across Brad Jones and wide.

Rodgers added new impetus to his attack at the interval by introducing Raheem Sterling for Johnson, and there were encouraging signs for Liverpool soon after the break, with Martin Skrtel's powerful drive bringing a save out of Gabulov before Gerrard headed Shelvey's cross wide.

The Reds kept up the pressure and moments later they made the breakthrough as Downing, who had been shifted to left-back, cut in from out wide and smashed the ball into the net.

Suarez almost swiftly added another with a strike that went just the wrong side of the post, and Shelvey then sent a shot into Gabulov's arms.

With the lead still only at 1-0, though, Liverpool could not afford to switch off at the back and they survived a scare in the 70th minute when defensive sloppiness saw the ball come to Et o'o, whose effort was saved by Jones.

Assaidi and Suarez went down in the box in separate tussles with the referee only being moved to book the latter for protesting, before Mbark Boussoufa saw a shot deflect wide of Jones' goal.

Agger thought he had doubled Liverpool's advantage when he headed the ball from Gabulov's hand and lashed in, but he also only picked up a booking.

Anzhi issued further warnings, with Skrtel making a goal-line clearance to deny Mehdi Carcela and substitute Lacina Traore striking wide.

Gerrard then fired over and Carcela struck wide at the other end before the full-time whistle confirmed Liverpool's win.