Manchester United returned to winning ways as they beat Everton 2-0 thanks to two first-half penalties, both won by Alejandro Garnacho and converted by Bruno Fernandes and then Marcus Rashford.
As for much of this season, a relegation-battling Everton threatened for most of the match but failed in front of goal, losing for the second match running despite having over 20 shots. They are now 11 matches without victory.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
35 | +21 | 67 |
| 5 |
Spurs
TOT
|
33 | +15 | 60 |
| 6 |
Man Utd
MUN
|
34 | +1 | 54 |
| 7 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
34 | +19 | 53 |
How the match unfolded
Both teams were unchanged as Rashford continued his role up top in the absence of Rasmus Hojlund and Beto started for the second successive match for Everton.
Man Utd attempted to assume the majority of possession but struggled to play out from the back, often being caught out by Everton’s press.
Despite Everton’s bright start, United scored against the run of play. On nine minutes, James Tarkowski clipped Garnacho as the 19-year-old tried to dribble past him in the box.
Fernandes converted from the spot, slotting the ball into Jordan Pickford’s bottom-left corner for his fifth goal in nine appearances against Everton.
It was also his 29th penalty goal for United, the most in the club’s history, overtaking Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Everton continued to threaten but failed to give Andre Onana a serious test in the United goal.
At the other end, Fernandes forced Pickford into a brilliant full-stretch save from a free-kick before United got their second.
Garnacho earned United’s second penalty by driving into the area, drawing a foul from Ben Godfrey.
This time Rashford stepped up and scored his seventh goal of the season in the 36th minute, sending the ball towards the opposite side of the first penalty and wrongfooting Pickford.
It made United only the third side in Premier League history to have two different players score a first-half penalty, after Fulham v Bolton Wanderers in August 2002 (scored by Louis Saha and Steve Marlet) and Manchester City v Leicester City in December 2021 (Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling).
The second half started in a similar fashion to the first as Everton failed to take advantage of their superior possession.
Garnacho continued to be a nuisance down the right but could not convert any of the chances provided by Fernandes, the best from a tight angle that he blasted over.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin failed to score his first goal in five months after the Everton forward missed fellow substitute Lewis Dobbin’s pass across goal.
The win takes United three points behind Tottenham Hotspur’s tally of 50 in sixth. Everton remain 16th, five points above the relegation zone.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 |
Everton
EVE
|
35 | -11 | 36 |
| 16 |
Brentford
BRE
|
35 | -8 | 35 |
| 17 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
35 | -20 | 26 |
| 18 |
Luton
LUT
|
35 | -29 | 25 |
Club reports
Manchester United report | Everton report
Next Premier League fixtures
Facts
Everton have a shot-conversion rate of only 7.3 per cent in the Premier League this season, scoring 29 goals from 397 shots – their lowest rate in a campaign on record in the competition (since 1997/98). They had 23 shots at Old Trarfford and only against Wolverhampton Wanderers in March 2010, when they had 24 shots, have they had more in a Premier League away match on record (from 2003/04) without scoring.
Since his Premier League debut in February 2020, no player has scored more penalties in the competition than Fernandes, with 17, level with Mohamed Salah. Eleven of those penalties have come at Old Trafford, with only Ruud van Nistelrooy (12) scoring more penalties at the ground in the Premier League.
Each of Fernandes's last five Premier League goals have proven to be the winning goal of a match. He's only the second player to have a run of five consecutive goals for Manchester United in the competition all be winners, after Cristiano Ronaldo from January to September 2007.
Garnacho was the first player to win two penalties in a single Premier League match since Antonio Rudiger for Chelsea v Leeds United in December 2021, and first to do so for Man Utd in the competition.
