After five games in a row without defeat, Manchester United hoped that a stable series could finally be achieved. Trainer Ruben Amorim had once again made a starting place for Joshua Zirkzee against Everton, who played until the match against The Toffees only ninety minutes, spread over five games, to his name. Matthijs de Ligt also kicked off, although in his case that was a lot more logical given his status within the team.
The match quickly seemed to go the way of the home team. After thirteen minutes, a bizarre incident took place on the field, when Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye got into a fight with his teammate Michael Keane. The Senegalese was so nervous that he punched Keane and received a red card from the referee. Everton soon found themselves with ten men and United had plenty of time to take advantage of that numerical majority.
Pickford is bothering Zirkzee
But that didn’t work. In fact, after just under half an hour, Everton’s ten even took the lead when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored from a James Garner cross. The visitors then dropped far to defend the lead and were able to rely on goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who repeatedly proved to be an obstacle for Manchester United.
The England international stopped Bruno Fernandes from scoring before half-time and did so twice in the closing stages of the second half on beautiful headers from Zirkzee, who thought he had already scored. Despite United putting pressure on Everton’s goal, they were unable to make the visitors falter even more. For example, the home team failed to connect with the sub-top. United are tenth, with eighteen points from twelve matches. Everton has just as many points.