Georginio Wijnaldum has accused Everton’s players of trying to “injure” their Liverpool counterparts in the recent Merseyside derby.

Liverpool came out 3-1 winners at Anfield on Saturday, but the visitors made a number of questionable challenges throughout.

Ross Barkley in particular could have been sent off on at least one occasion, while Ashley Williams stamped on Emre Can in the first half.

Wijnaldum performed well throughout in the absence of fellow midfielders Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana, but the Dutchman was not too pleased with the standard of tackling.

“The tackles, especially those the players from Everton made on our players, it was hard to see, hard to accept, because I think you can play the game really hard, but not with the intention to give someone an injury,” Wijnaldum told Sky Sports News HQ.

“For me, my opinion, that is a bad thing, because you have to play the game fair. Of course you can play hard, to win, but not to injure the player, because that’s not part of the game.

“I saw a few tackles that had to be red.”