Manchester United welcome Everton to Old Trafford this afternoon as they prepare to end their pre-season campaign ahead of the new Premier League season commencing next weekend. United were supposed to face Preston North End last weekend but the fixture was cancelled because of a coronavirus scare which resulted in no first team players testing positive and the pre-season preparations continuing. United have spent the first half of the week at St Andrews in Scotland on their second training camp of the summer, which saw many first team players return to the club after their summer holidays. David De Gea, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes and Anthony Martial have all returned to training.
This pre-season campaign may not have been the best with Euro 2020 and Copa American, not to mention the Olympics all playing a part this summer but the players that played more than 60 matches last season will have had a good rest ahead of the new season commencing, which cannot be said for last summer with little rest between one season ending and a new season starting. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will see his team boosted by Jadon Sancho, who has not been pictured in training yet and Raphael Varane, whose signing has not yet been completed by the Old Trafford club. There is still hope that United will make more additions to the squad this summer, but that will result in clearing some players out of the club first, which may or may not be possible.
Manchester United:
De Gea;
Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw;
Matic, Van de Beek;
Greenwood, Fernandes, James;
Martial
Substitutes:
Grant, Heaton; Dalot, Williams, Tuanzebe; Pogba, Mata, Pereira, Fred, Garner, McTominay
Everton:
Pickford;
Coleman, Keane, Godfrey, Digne;
Allan, Doucoure;
Iwobi, Rodriguez, Townsend;
Gray
Substitutes:
Begovic, Tyrer; Kenny, Holgate, Mina, Nkounkou; Delph, Davies; Gordon, Broadhead, Dobbin
United and Everton have met a total of 206 times competitively since the formation of both clubs. United have won 90 times, drawn 46 times with Everton winning 70 times. In the last five meetings between both clubs, United are undefeated, winning twice and drawing three times. The last defeat to Everton was on the 21 April 2019 with the Toffees winning 4-0 with goals from Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lucas Digne and Theo Walcott. Prior to that match, United were unbeaten against Everton in the eight matches before, winning six and drawing twice. Rafael Benitez is now in the Everton hot seat and will be seeking to change the clubs fortunes after finishing tenth in the Premier League last season.
United and Everton have a long history with players featuring for both teams over the years. Currently, the only player at Everton to have played for United is Michael Keane. The 28-year-old started his footballing life at United as part of the clubs academy, alongside his brother, Will Keane. He was sold to Burnley in January 2015 before he was sold on to Everton in the summer of 2017. One of the beat known transfers from Everton to United was Wayne Rooney, who joined the Old Trafford club as a teenager in the summer of 2004. United have also signed Marouane Fellaini and Romelu Lukaku, amongst others from Everton in the not too distant past. Mark Hughes, Andrei Kanchelskis, Phil Neville, Jesper Blomqvist and Tim Howard have played for both clubs.
Written by John Walker
