Manchester United got their form firmly back on track this evening at the expense of a spirited Everton outfit.
On the back of a 6-3 defeat at the hands of city rivals, Man City, in the club’s return to action last weekend, Erik ten Hag’s troops made the trip to Goodison Park, glancing a return to winning ways in a meeting with Frank Lampard’s Everton.
It was Everton who took the lead on the day when the in-form Alex Iwobi left David de Gea with no chance courtesy of a pinpoint strike from a distance:
United, though, provided a swift response and levelled the game just 10 minutes later as Antony was found in behind by Anthony Martial. The Brazilian shifted onto his favoured left foot and fired past Jordan Pickford to score his third goal in as many matches for United since signing from Ajax.
Anthony Martial, the provider, was forced off after struggling with another injury just before the half-hour mark and was replaced by Ronaldo.
And it was the substitute Ronaldo who gave United the lead, scoring his 700th club goal a minute before the end of the first half.
The Portuguese striker burst down the left flank and showed his goalscoring pedigree with a clinical low, left-footed strike past Pickford.
Both sides traded spells of pressure in the second half, but neither had the decisive moment of quality until it seemed Marcus Rashford sealed victory for United nine minutes from time.
Rashford beat Iwobi and James Tarkowski out wide before taking the ball past Pickford and firing into a vacated net — but the effort was ruled out following a VAR check for an adjudged handball.
Everton suffered their first Premier League defeat in seven games (W2 D4), while they conceded as many goals tonight as they had done in their first four home games of the campaign combined (2).
United still sealed the victory, though and moved up to fifth in the table.
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