Everton threatened to collapse before the first half was halfway over, Baines deflecting Suarez's shot past Howard and the Uruguayan doubling the Reds' lead with a header off a free kick. But Osman got one back almost immediately in a surprisingly open affair and Naismith leveled later in the half to make it 2-2.
Everton got off to a quick start after losing the toss and changing ends, Jelavic clipping over top Naismith at the far post, winning an early corner. But a frustrating period of Liverpool possession followed and they won a couple of corners.
Naismith almost released Jelavic. After some scrappy play, Mirallas picked the ball up and went on a great run that won a corner he brilliantly put in on Jones. From the other side, Baines poorly overhit his corner.
Osman and Naismith showed a lack of understanding, with too much messy play in midfield and Liverpool broke forward, Enrique crossing across goal with Sterling going flying, but it was a low cross from Suarez that caught Baines and flew into the net. Suarez then dashed off in delight and flung himself to the ground right in front of David Moyes, a provocative celebration deserving of a booking.
Everton tried to respond to going behind early yet again but failed to penetrate and Osman picked up the first yellow, chasing after Sterling, and worse was to come when Gerrard's free-kick was glanced in by the completely unmarked Suarez.
But the goal galvanized a more direct approach, Fellaini's shot deflected behind fro a corner, from which Jones punches straight to Osman, whose low slightly deflected shot flew into the corner of the Gwladys Street goal to put the Blues back in it, with just a quarter of the game gone.
Mirallas was dancing around red shirts on the left wing, but not getting many calls from marriner when he was taken out by Wisdom, Mirallas eventually delivering a fantastic ball in that Skirtel had to head behind. From the corner Jones misjudged it but Marriner gave the call to Liverpool. At the other end, Suraez lashed on a foot wide.
Jelavic and Fellaini messed up a great chance after Mirallas won the ball. Baines was floored by Sterling who received a yellow card but Everton failed to profit from the free-kick. Mirallas delivered in another great ball that neither Fellaini nor Naismith attacked.
Sterling then took away Baines's legs and he should have got a second yellow for it. A promising move found Jelavic but he was offside. Then, from a move down the left, Mirallas and Fellaini exchanging pass until with one driven cross hitting Fellaini, who recobered well to put in an inviting ball that Naismith just got to ahead of Jelavic to lash into the net... 2 - 2!!!
Fellaini fed Mirallas to set up another brilliant run that got him into firing range, Jones palming his shot across the goal. Osman then fed Mirallas but Suarez ran at him and kicked his ankle, a disgusting foul worthy of a red that received only a free-kick. It left Mirallas limping a little as he tried to run it off and he seemed to have done so as he again ran in in goal from the left but pulled, hoping on the other leg to favour the ankle that Suarez had tried to break.
He remained off the pitch as Everton came close from a couple of corners, then hobbled back on, but he was clearly crocked. Meanwhile, a bizarre moment as Phil Neville dribbled toward the Dee and collapsed under the merest of challenges from Agger, who's screams drew a yellow card for the Everton captain — for 'simulation'! Kevin Mirallas did not reappear after the break, replaced by Magaye Gueye. Everton looked to go behind early in the second half, Suarez missing a low ball in from the Everton left, then Sterling getting behind the defence but missing his shot completely,
At the other end, a good shot by Naismith was pushed out to Baines with Skrtel taking him out after he clipped the ball back across to Coleman who fired wide.
Jagielka was booked for holding back Sterling, Gerrard testing Howard with a hard direct shot from distance. Fellaini came close with a header off a Coleman cross. A lovely piece of work on the right saw Coleman slide in a nice low cross for Jelavic but Skrtel slid in to deny him.
Coates fouled Jelavic out wide and Baines's free-kick was swung in well but Jelavic could not get a good contact with his head. Another chance came when Coleman was blocked poorly by Allen. Jelavic got too much contact on the free header from a superb delivery, powering it wide of the post when he really should have put Everton ahead.
Agger picked up Liverpool's second yellow for pushing Fellaini but the delivery from another Baines free kick was poor. Henderson replaced Wisdom on 70 mins.
Suarez was finally booked for stamping on Distin's ankle — it really should have been a red! It had been a good spell of attacking from Everton but yielded nothing and Liverpool broke into their half with Richardson but he thankfully delayed and the fluffed his cross. Shelvey tried to shoot from distance and it was well wide.
A great cheer went up when Suarez slipped over when in a good position to threaten, Coates then fouled Fellaini but got away with it. Fellaini did well with Gueye to work an opportunity for Baines but again Skirtel blocked it. And nothing came of Baines's deep corner.
Gerard looked set up for the winner when Henderson got the better of Distin and laid back an easy shot for Gerard but Jagielka blocked an almost certain goal. A period of Liverpool pressure followed before Bryan Oviedo replaced Naismith with 5 mins left, Gueye switching to the right.
Coleman became the fourth Everton player booked for pulling Sterling's shirt. Oviedo's first cross was hard but not accurate. Distin pushed Suarez for a late free-kick that Gerrard way overhit as the game looked to be heading for a draw with 4 mins of added time.
Oviedo got in another good cross but Jelavic oddly backed away from goal just before he chipped the ball in. Gerrard went down easily from a beefy Osman challenge and Coates headed it down to Suarez who smashed it into the roof of the net from close range for a Liverpool winner... but incredibly it was disallowed!!!
The referee's assistant apparently flagged for offside but television replays show a possible foul by Coates on Jagielka in any case.
courtesy of @FourthOfficial_
A fantastic escape for Everton, who went briefly back to fourth before Tottenham leapfrogged over them, beating Southampton.
Michael Kenrick
It's cliched but there really is nothing like the derby. There can't be another game that generates such a mixture of excitement and dread; no result — save, of course, for a Cup semi or final — can lift you higher with a victory or leave you so crushed by defeat.
It seems lately, though — and I don't think I'm alone in this — that any excitement for an impending derby has been so consumed by dread of this fixture that they've become an occasion not to savour but to avoid contemplating and to get out of the way as quickly as possible!
Therein lies we Blues' problem with the Merseyside derby: we've developed a disturbing psychosis around playing Liverpool and it's to the point now where we're handicapping ourselves on the very occasion where we need to be as mentally, spiritually and physically strong as possible. Exhibits A and B: the Anfield surrender in March and the FA Cup semi-final defeat where a club as one seemed to lose its self-belief after one game-defining error by Sylvain Distin.
On paper going into it, the Goodison derby of a year ago was an altogether more even affair and Moyes's side crippled was crippled by the shocking refereeing of Martin Atkinson, but those two most recent encounters with Liverpool seem to have sent we Blues into a psychological tailspin.
Everton's record in the derby under David Moyes stands as a constant reminder of this apparent inferiority complex, one borne originally of an ever-increasing gulf in resources and available talent but one that is now, thanks to the manager's patient building and the Blues' form in 2012, no longer supported by any factual rationale.
The current Liverpool team is without doubt the worst in more than a generation. Their own attempts to rebuild a side capable of recapturing former glories through a succession of managerial appointments has been a massively expensive failure and they've now had to lower their sights and dig in for the kind of long haul with which Evertonians have become very familiar.
Moyes's Everton is a side that has been talked about as dark horses for the Champions League places come May and the team's early season form had borne that out until a combination of refereeing incompetence, injury to key personnel and, last week at least, some ill-advised tinkering with the most productive area of his formation.
With Steven Pienaar suspended for last weekend's incredibly harsh second yellow card, Darron Gibson ruled out for another week and Marouane Fellaini doubtful, this weekend's game at Goodison may not be quite tipped quite as much in Everton's favour as it might with a full squad.
Nevertheless, though they might not admit it, the Blues remain favourites based on home field advantage and their excellent sequence over the last 16 League games, a run disrupted only by a solitary defeat at West Bromwich Albion.
Liverpool have just a pair of wins — one at home, one away — and, their rout at Norwich aside, have struggled to score goals. That should give Moyes confidence if he can shore up his own defence which has had a propensity to concede soft goals early in recent weeks.
Tony Hibbert help in that regard if he is passed fit afte recovering from a calf injury but Seamus Coleman will likely continue at right back if not. In left midfield, Kevin Mirallas is expected to get the nod to fill in for Pienaar, while Steven Naismith, who impressed second-half sub at Loftus Road last week, could benefit from the South African's absence with a rare start, either up front with Nikica Jelavic or wide right.
Sooner rather than later, Moyes must find the psychological key to getting both himself and his players "over the hump" when it comes to playing the enemy from across the Park. It can start this weekend with an organised, commanding, confident performance against a Liverpool side that is still finding its feet under a thus-far unconvincing manager.
It shouldn't be hard if the players deliver on their talent they possess. In the likes of Jelavic (albeit starved of service in the last two games), Leighton Baines, and Mirallas we have match-winners; in Jagielka and Distin we have a potentially watertight defensive pairing to keep the Luis Suarez and his diving antics quiet; in Moyes we have a superior manager; in the Goodison faithful, we have the perfect 12th man. As difficult as it will be not to let any anxiety cross the threshold onto the pitch, the onus will be on the home fans to be vociferous and unyielding in their support.
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