David Moyes won a Premier League game at Manchester United as an away manager for the first time in 18 attempts as he praised the “togetherness and resilience” of his Everton team despite Idrissa Gueye’s red card for slapping team-mate Michael Keane.
On an extraordinary night at Old Trafford, Everton became the first team in Premier League history to beat United away from home while down to 10 men, as Moyes defeated his former employers.
Gueye’s 13th-minute red card for raising his hands at Keane’s face looked to have put Everton in trouble but Moyes’s players were magnificent as they ground out a famous win secured by Kienan Dewsbury-Hall’s first-half strike.
"If nothing happened, I don't think anyone in the stadium would have been surprised,“ Moyes said when asked about Gueye’s dismissal, with the 36-year-old midfielder becoming the first Premier League player to be sent off for fighting a team-mate since 2008.
“I thought the referee could have taken a bit longer to think about it. I got told that the rules of the game that if you slap your own player, you could be in trouble.
“But there's another side to it: I like my players fighting each other, if someone didn't do the right action. If you want that toughness and resilience to get a result, you want someone to act on it.”
Moyes said Gueye apologised to his team-mates and thanked them for pulling together to get the victory.
Gueye’s red card was the first time that a player had been sent off for fighting a team-mate in the Premier League since Stoke City's Ricardo Fuller slapped team-mate and captain Andy Griffin during a defeat to West Ham in December 2008.
While the other infamous example of Premier League in-fighting was when Newcastle team-mate Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer brawled with each other during the 3-0 loss to Aston Villa at St James' Park in April 2005.
But Everton’s match-winner Dewsbury-Hall said Gueye’s red card brought those on the pitch closer together as they fought to see out the win. Goalkeeper Pickford made some key saves, while there were also a number of blocks from the Everton defence that stopped United finding an equaliser.
"Rollercoaster game. I'll sleep well tonight, put it that way,” Dewsbury-Hall said. “So genuinely happy for the lads and how hard they worked. A fantastic performance of gritting away, getting a goal and keeping that spirit. So glad we got the three points.
"We started really well - the situation happened. It was a moment of madness, avoidable. But all I can say is Idrissa has apologised to us at full-time, said his piece and that's all he can do. We move on from it.
“The reaction from us, was unbelievable. Top tier. We could have crumbled but if anything, it made us grow.”
Moyes was in charge of Manchester United on the last occasion where Everton won at Old Trafford, as a Toffees side managed by Roberto Martinez won 1-0 in December 2013.
"Incredibly proud of the players and the supporters here today because we've had so many encounters here where we've not got a result,” Moyes said.
"We've come close but not been able to get over the line. But incredibly we've got over the line with 10 men, which is the hardest way to get a result here.”
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