Manchester United return to Premier League action this afternoon as they welcome Everton to Old Trafford. United last won in the league when they beat West Ham United almost a fortnight ago, losing to Aston Villa at the Theatre of Dreams last week. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side desperately need to get back to winning ways in the league despite sitting a point away from the top spot although four other teams share the same number of points that United have at this stage of the season. If United let their position slip now, they will find it much harder to get back in the mix when it matters. Keeping the challenge up is much-needed right now.
United got back to winning ways against Villarreal at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening, coming from behind to win the match in added time. United conceded a goal in the 53rd minute of the match and Alex Telles struck seven minutes later to equalise. United struggled to find a winner, despite being resurgent for large periods of the second half. Cristiano Ronaldo, assisted by Jesse Lingard, scored the winner in the very last minute of added time to get all three points in the bag for United, which was a must after the defeat to Young Boys a fortnight ago. United need to get back to winning ways in the Premier League at home this weekend.
Manchester United:
De Gea;
Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lindelof, Shaw;
McTominay, Fred;
Greenwood, Fernandes, Martial;
Cavani
Substitutes:
Henderson; Bailly, Telles; Pogba, Lingard, Matic, Van de Beek; Ronaldo, Sancho
Everton:
Pickford;
Godfrey, Mina, Keane, Digne;
Townsend, Doucoure, Allan, Gordon;
Gray;
Rondon
Substitutes:
Begovic, Lonergan; Kenny, Holgate, Branthwaitel Gbamin, Davies, Whitaker; Dobbin
United and Everton have met 58 times in the Premier League. United have won 37 times, drawn 12 times and the Toffees have won the remaining nine matches. United have scored a total of 108 goals, winning five penalties and scoring four of them. Everton have scored just 57 goals, winning four penalties and scoring three of them. The Red Devils have kept 24 clean sheets with the Toffees keeping nine. Discipline has been an issue in this fixture with United players receiving 76 yellow cards and two red cards and Everton players being shown 108 yellow cards and three red cards.
There has been a long history of players to have played for both United and Everton. The likes of Mark Hughes, Andrei Kanchelskis, John O’Kane, Phil Neville, Jesper Blomqvist, Tim Howard, Louis Saha, Darron Gibson, Marouane Fellaini, Michael Keane, Tom Cleverley, Romelu Lukaku and Morgan Schneiderlin have all played for United but the most successful player of them all was Wayne Rooney. He was sold to United for £25 million as an 18-year-old in the summer of 2004 and started to break the records from his debut against Fenerbahce when he scored a hat-trick. Before he rejoined Everton in 2017, he became United’s all time top scorer.
Written by John Walker
