Manchester United travelled to Merseyside off the back of a humilating 6-3 defeat to local rivals and reigning champions Man City.

Confidence following that game was somewhat restored in the week when ‘The Red Devils’ beat Omonoia 3-2, despite an unconvincing performance.

However, ten Hag and his team had all eyes on a in-form Everton side who had the best defensive record in the league coming into the game.

Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has turned fortunes round at ‘The Toffees’ after narrowly escaping relegation last campaign.

Team News

Erik ten Hag had a few decisions to make before kick-off.

The Dutch coach made a change at left-back that saw Tyrell Malacia dropped in favour of Luke Shaw who was alongside Dalot, Martinez and Lindelof in defence,

Casemiro was given his first PL start to accompany Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes in the middle of the park.

The front three consisted of Antony, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial leading the line.

The Game

Man United started the game well but a swift breakaway from Everton allowed the on-fire Alex Iwobi to curl a shot into De Gea’s goal from around 30 yards out.

After the goal, momentum shifted back into the hands of the away team who continued to press Everton high up the pitch and it was the 15th minute that saw Antony calmly slot home from a Martial ball to equal the scores at 1-1.

That was one of the last involvements of Anthony Martial’s evening as the injury he sustained in the warm-up to this match returned and was forced off for Cristiano Ronaldo.

This personall change didn’t affect the way United were playing, perhaps the most ten Hag way the team has played all season.

With around 70% possession heading into the break, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been out of sorts over the last few months, fired his shot past Jordan Pickford to reach 700 club goals in his career, a truly outstanding record.

The second half of the game saw Everton turn up the heat as United were forced to sit back and soak up the relentless pressure from Lampard’s men.

However, everything the Merseyside club had, the United defence got a block in.

Away fans thought their team had sealed the victory when Marcus Rashford cooly scored past Pickford but after a lengthy VAR check, the celebrations were halted as the referee David Coote deemed a handball on the English forward.

That was the last attacking throw of the dice by ten Hag who later introduced Scott Mctominay and Raphael Varane into the game in order to see out the win.

Despite several corners and shots from Everton in the 90th, as well as a Jordan Pickford chance, Man United managed to hold on and secure 3 points to take back to Manchester with them.

Man Of The Match

Despite making a few errors, including one that led to the Iwobi goal, Casemiro did put in his most impressive display in a United shirt to date.

Luke Shaw also made good on his chance as did Christian Eriksen.

However, I believe the fast pace of Marcus Rashford was too much to handle for Everton in an attacking sense and despite not getting a goal contribution in this encounter, I feel September’s Premier League Player of the Month was the best player on the pitch.

Standings

Following on from this and other weekend results, Man United end the gameweek 5th in the table, a point behind Chelsea and a point ahead of Newcastle who have played a game more.

Everton aren’t hindered too much by this result and end the week in 12th, on the same points as local rivals Liverpool who sit in 10th.

Let us know who you think was MOTM and what you think of the performance by commenting below.