Another home draw, another 90 minutes of huffing and puffing from Manchester United. They’re not as good as Jose Mourinho would have you think. But they are still unbeaten in the league since October, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s last-gasp penalty rescuing them, so that’s something. But they’re still fifth and they’ve missed another chance to put pressure on Manchester City. They’re four points behind them. As for Everton, they’ll be kicking themselves. They led for so long, didn’t make the most of several late counterattacks and gave away an equaliser at the death. They stay seventh and that’s probably where they’ll be after 38 matches. Thanks for reading. Night.
Full-time: Manchester United 1-1 Everton
Manchester United’s unbeaten run rumbles on! There’s no stopping them! What a team!
GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Everton (Ibrahimovic pen, 90 min+4)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic nervelessly sends Joel Robles the wrong way.
Updated
PENALTY TO MANCHESTER UNITED! RED CARD FOR ASHLEY WILLIAMS!
90 min+3: Another long ball from United is headed away but only as far as Luke Shaw - who else? - whose right-footed shot from 18 yards is heading in before Williams dives down to his right to block with his arm! That’s a penalty and a red card!
Updated
90 min+2: Pogba bustles past Gueye on the right and goes down as the Everton midfielder tugs him down. He’s already on a booking and he’s flirting with danger here, but amazingly Neil Swarbrick decides that it wasn’t even a foul. Joel Robles has been booked for timewasting.
90 min+1: Baines blocks a cross behind for a corner on the right. United are still pressing, but they make a mess of the corner.
90 min: There will be four minutes of Jose Time.
89 min: Rashford swings a cross into the middle from the right, but Ibrahimovic, perhaps put off by Williams in front of him, heads over from six yards! Moments before that, the unmarked Fellaini had let the ball run through his legs when the ball reached him at the far post.
88 min: Davies picks up a booking for an overly forceful challenge on Pogba (I think).
87 min: Calvert-Lewin breaks through the middle but he plays the ball to Lukaku’s feet instead of sending him into space. Lukaku ends up losing it. He blames Calvert-Lewin and though he has a point, it should be pointed out that he didn’t have the skill to beat Bailly.
86 min: The corner goes out and back into play. Dearie me. Goal-kick to Everton.
85 min: Mkhitaryan feeds Lingard 20 yards from goal. Barry throws himself in the way of the winger’s shot, the ball spinning out for a corner on the right.
84 min: United have gone route one. Shaw tosses a high ball into the area. Ibrahimovic’s header drops to Robles. Another Shaw cross drifts out for a throw.
Updated
82 min: Rashford and Shaw combine on the left. United win a corner. Everton disagree. Mkhitaryan’s corner is headed away. Shaw heads it back in, but the ball ends up in Robles’s hands.
80 min: Everton make their second change, Calvert-Lewin on for Barkley.
79 min: Lukaku storms past Rojo on the right, leaving the centre-back for dead, and tanks into the area. Bailly flies across to block the striker’s shot. That looked like it was going to be 2-0.
78 min: Gueye finds space on the edge of the United area. The hosts are ragged here and Gueye finds Barkley on the left. He takes an age to make up his mind, but manages to screw a low centre into the six-yard box. United hack it clear.
77 min: From Pogba’s free-kick, Rojo glances over the bar. “A recent Guardian article demanded that we admire the defensive austerity of Utd and praise that rather than any attacking heritage the team might call on,” says Ian Copestake. “Jose will be happy of a draw to cement his glory.”
76 min: Barkley has wasted two promising Everton counters, first by ignoring Lukaku, then by underhitting a pass to the striker. United have a free-kick on the right now. Meanwhile a replay of Ibrahimovic’s disallowed goal suggests he might have been onside. It was very tight.
75 min: Rojo and De Gea almost get themselves into a mess after dithering with a bouncing ball, almost letting in Lukaku, but the Argentinian mops up before calamity descends upon United.
74 min: The danger here is that Everton are going to be punished for sitting back. It’s been harder for them to break since Kevin Mirallas went off.
73 min: A long punt into the Everton area. Ibrahimovic challenges, Robles flaps weakly and the ball falls to Fellaini. But Barry puts him off and he volleys over the empty net! Is a goal on the way?
71 min: So as I was saying. Ander Herrera whips a glorious ball to the far post for Ibrahimovic to head low past Robles ... but the flag’s up for offside. The celebrations are shortlived.
Updated
69 min: United might bore their way to an equaliser here, and maybe even a winner if they find a first goal, but can we stop pretending that they’re an attractive football team? This has been a tortured attacking performance.
66 min: United have made all their substitutions now, so we won’t be seeing Anthony Martial this evening. Everton are making their first change as well. Matthew Pennington replaces Kevin Mirallas, who had a decent game.
65 min: Before Everton can take the corner, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the lesser spotted Luke Shaw come on for Michael Carrick and Ashley Young. Nothing comes from the corner.
64 min: Everton counter and Barkley lifts a pass from right to left for Mirallas, who ignores the boos from the home crowd and wins a corner.
63 min: Carrick, who’s about to be substituted, twists and turns on the edge of the area before shooting. His effort’s blocked.
62 min: After a spot of head tennis in the United area, the ball falls to Fellaini, who controls before scooping well wide under pressure. It was a half chance at best.
61 min: Jose Mourinho is giving instructions to Mkhitaryan and Martial on the touchline. Or is he apologising for naming them on the bench? Meanwhile Everton are attacking down the right, Lukaku isolating Rojo and crossing, but Herrera’s positioning is spot on and he stops it reaching Mirallas.
59 min: Bailly’s nervy header drops to Lukaku on the left. Lukaku drops a shoulder and knocks a dangerous low cross into the middle. Young muddles it clear.
58 min: Rashford’s attempted clearance skews behind for an Everton corner on the right. The travelling support is noisy. Mirallas whips it in and Barkley sends a low header straight at De Gea.
57 min: The players of both teams are engaged in philosophical debate after Mirallas decides to attack from a drop ball, provoking Young into clattering him. Eventually Young, who was involved in a spot of nonsense with Holgate a few minutes earlier, is booked. The temperature is rising.
Updated
55 min: Young’s free-kick is flatter and more dangerous this time. It’s flicked on at the near post and Pogba instinctively heads against the face of the bar! Robles was beaten. But Everton’s lead is intact.
Updated
54 min: United are pinning Everton back here and there’s a whiff of desperation about Barry’s bodycheck on the flying Rashford on the left. He’s booked.
Updated
52 min: Robles confidently claims Young’s overhit free-kick.
51 min: Ibrahimovic shows sleight of foot to beat his man on the right, but his driven low cross isn’t getting past Williams at the near post. United keep attacking, though, and Barkley brings down Young on the left.
50 min: Barkley is losing the ball a lot. He has to do better in tight spaces when he’s under pressure.
49 min: The Ander Herrera experiment hasn’t lasted long. He’s swapped positions with Ashley Young. That was worthwhile.
48 min: A neat passing move from Everton ends with Mirallas tamely shooting straight at De Gea from 30 yards.
47 min: The alternative is that Ander Herrera has moved to left-back.
46 min: Manchester United, attacking the Stretford End, begin the second half. Paul Pogba is on for Daley Blind. It seems United have gone to three at the back.
Half-time: Manchester United 0-1 Everton
It’s been scrappy and less than enthralling, but Everton lead thanks to Phil Jagielka and Manchester United’s long unbeaten league run is under threat.
45 min+2: Ibrahimovic Zlatans the ball to Rashford in the area, but Jagielka, who’s having some half, denies him with a wonderfully timed challenge.
45 min: Idrissa Gueye picks up a booking for a standing on Ibrahimovic’s ankle. That’s cruelty to lions. There will be two added minutes.
Updated
44 min: Mirallas releases Lukaku down the inside right channel again, but short of support, he decides to shoot from long range and Rojo makes an easy block. United try to counter, but a dismal long ball drifts straight through to Robles. Old Trafford is frustrated.
43 min: Barkley crumples in a heap on the edge of the United area. The free-kick goes to United. He’s not done much.
40 min: Herrera slides a perceptive pass through to Young, who’s away from Davies and into the area, but his ball flashes across the six-yard box, no one there to apply the finishing touch. Up the other end, Mirallas scampers behind the United defence on the right all of a sudden, only to slip inside the area. Jagielka’s goal aside, it’s been that sort of game.
Updated
39 min: Carrick, who’s having a very good game, eludes Davies and finds Herrera, whose shot from 25 yards is heading into the right corner until Robles brilliantly tips it wide.
36 min: A loose ball breaks to Lukaku, who selfishly ignores Mirallas to his right when his Belgian team-mate was completely unmarked. Instead Lukaku swerves to his left and has a shot blocked. The deflection loops up to Davies, whose volley hits the offside Mirallas. What a waste. The right pass from Lukau there and Everton could have been 2-0 up.
32 min: Robles lives.
30 min: The free-kick is to the right of the D, made for the left foot of Blind, who whips it hard and fast over the wall and towards the top left corner. Robles springs to his left to palm the ball down, slamming into the post in the process, and Herrera races on to the rebound, only to crash it against the bar and away to safety from a tight angle. Robles is still down after that collision. He’ll need treatment.
Updated
29 min: Young takes the corner. Lukaku heads it away. The ball comes back to Young, whose cross is blocked, but play is brought back to the edge of the area, the referee having spotted Mirallas foolishly dragging Lingard down off the ball in his eagerness to close down the cross.
28 min: A free-kick to United on the left. Blind’s delivery is underhit and poor, but Lukaku heads it behind for a corner.
26 min: Everton have the scent of blood here and Barkley finds Lukaku on the right. He drives inside, on to his left foot, but drags a shot wide of the near post from 18 yards.
23 min: On BT Sport, Glenn Hoddle just compared Phil Jagielka’s goal to a Gerd Muller finish. High praise indeed.
GOAL! Manchester United 0-1 Everton (Jagielka, 22 min)
Mirallas hangs another outswinging corner towards the far post again. Ashley Williams rises highest again, just as he did last time, and heads it up into the six-yard box. The danger looks minimal. Or so it seems. David De Gea stays on his line and Marcos Rojo’s defending is meek in the extreme, allowing Phil Jagielka to outmuscle him before improvising superbly as the ball drops from the sky, showing great athleticism and imagination by hooking it through De Gea despite having his back to goal. What a finish from the veteran centre-back!
Phil Jagielka now has as many PL goals as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Carlton Palmer.
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) April 4, 2017
Updated
21 min: This has been a very bitty match. Both teams have been sloppy and uncertain in the final third. But here’s an opening. Barry lofts a pass through to Mirallas on the right. Mirallas takes it down on his chest and shoots from a tight angle. De Gea saves with his feet. Everton have a corner. And...
19 min: Barkley lifts the corner high to the far post. Williams heads it down and Lukaku uses his strength to hold off Bailly, but United scramble the ball clear.
18 min: A decent spell of Everton possession ends with Barkley winning a corner on the right after a driving, positive run.
16 min: Ibrahimovic sends Rashford through on goal, but Robles brilliantly pushes his shot wide. Not that it matters: Rashford was offside.
Updated
14 min: Barkley turns adroitly, then spins back and attempts to hold off Rashford on the right. The United youngster outmuscles him, though, and Barkley ends up giving away a free-kick.
12 min: Lingard exchanges passes with Carrick and finds space in front of the Everton back four, but his 20-yarder swerves harmlessly wide.
10 min: This is scrappy.
Updated
9 min: There’s no sign of Luke Shaw sprinting up and down the touchline yet. He isn’t even doing any burpees or squat thrusts. Doesn’t he want to impress his manager?
Updated
7 min: Everton’s passing already looks worryingly ponderous. There’s not much pace in Koeman’s team.
5 min: A straight pass down the middle tempts Jagielka out of the middle, but the ball slips past him and Ibrahimovic is quicker than Holgate to anticipate the opening. He skips past the young right-back and lollops towards the area. He’s only got Joel Robles to beat - until Ashley Williams steams across to make a superb goal-saving challenge. There’s the first chance for United. Jot it down, Jose.
Updated
4 min: Daley Blind’s corner is wretched.
3 min: United attack fluently for the first time, Rashford bursting past Jagielka, who recovers well to concede a corner as the speeding youngster reaches the byline on the left.
2 min: Everton have been excellent at home in 2017 - these are their league results at Goodison Park since the turn of the year: 3-0, 4-0, 6-3, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 - but they’ve disappointed on the road. They’ve not away since 21 January. They’ve also been beaten at Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs, though they did get a point at Manchester City.
Updated
And we’re off! Everton, all in blue, get the ball rolling. They’re kicking from right to left in the first half. Phil Jagielka immediately opts for a big punt forward, but to little effect.
Here come the teams. We’ll have football soon! Manchester United know a win takes them two points behind fourth-placed Manchester City and they have a game in hand on their neighbours. 1-1, then.
Nick Miller has coverage of the rest of tonight’s football over here. Join him. But also stay here. But don’t join him too much.
“Interesting that you should bring up Boris Grishenko of GoldenEye fame, Jacob, as Luke Shaw will be better equipped than most to answer Boris’s riddle, spending, in a manner, most of his recent time sat on it,” says Luke Forrester.
On BT Sport, Rio Ferdinand is saying that Harry Kane’s hold-up play is far better than Romelu Lukaku’s. He’s not wrong. Lukau was poor against Liverpool and it’s not the first time he’s struggled in a big away game. He’s scored so many, but he has to improve his all-round play. It’s why he’s not quite convinced that he can succeed at a higher level. The elite strikers can do everything. Lukaku isn’t there yet - and yet there’s so much potential. Tonight would be a good time to increase his asking price.
It seems that it doesn’t take much for Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to fall foul of Jose Mourinho, does it? One bad game and they’re back on the bench. It’s difficult for attackers to build a flow when it’s so stop-start. Should Mourinho be showing them more patience or is it on them to use their vast talent on a more consistent basis?
Manchester United make three changes to the team that drew with West Brom. Daley Blind replaces the fatigued Antonio Valencia, Ander Herrera is in for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back from suspension in place of Anthony Martial. Marcus Rashford moves to the left of the attack. It’s Martial and Mkhitaryan who have paid with their places after the West Brom draw, but they’re part of a strong United bench. Paul Pogba is there, fit again after a hamstring injury, and so’s Luke Shaw. There’s no Wayne Rooney, though. He’s got ankle trouble.
That means there won’t be an opportunity for Everton to judge the wisdom of bringing Rooney back to Goodison Park this summer. The bigger concern for the time being, however, is responding after the defeat to Liverpool. Ronald Koeman played an inexperienced team at Anfield, but he’s gone for more nous this evening, with Gareth Barry and Kevin Mirallas replacing Matthew Pennington and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Updated
Team news
Manchester United: De Gea; Young, Bailly, Rojo, Blind; Carrick, Fellaini; Lingard, Herrera, Rashford; Ibrahimovic. Subs: Romero, Darmian, Fosu-Mensah, Shaw, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Martial.
Everton: Robles; Holgate, Jagielka, A.Williams, Baines; Barry, Davies, Gana; Barkley, Mirallas; Lukaku. Subs: Stekelenburg, Valencia, Calvert-Lewin, Lookman, Pennington, Kenny, J.Williams.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick.
Updated
Preamble
While Everton are still licking their wounds from their latest disappointment at Anfield, at least they’ll turn up at Old Trafford knowing that they’ve won on this ground in the 21st century. It’s a little over three years since Bryan Oviedo tapped home Romelu Lukaku’s cross-shot at the far post late on, sparking wild celebrations in the away end and raising hopes that Everton were ready to to push into the top four. Then again, Manchester United were being managed by football’s answer to Stewart Lee, David Moyes, at the time, so ... y’know.
Thing is, Everton haven’t been in the top four picture since that campaign. The early promise under Roberto Martinez soon gave way to two seasons of high farce. In Martinez’s place came Ronald Koeman, who has brought fresh steel and professionalism to Everton, who certainly look more sturdy these days, albeit without quite convincing that they’re ready to take the next step. Koeman has improved Everton’s defence, he’s made some top signings, a new stadium’s on the way, the academy is flourishing and Romelu Lukaku is in hot goalscoring form. But Everton are seventh. There have been flashes - a 4-0 thumping of Manchester City in January was one of the performances of the season - but following last month’s defeat at Tottenham by losing at Liverpool on Saturday shows them how far they have to go before they can say they’re capable of being more than the best of the rest. A win tonight takes Everton level with United in fifth, but it’s hard not to suspect they’ll be finishing seventh.
Mind you, United could tell them a thing or two about standing still. Like Everton, their season has been a mixture of promise and frustration. After another tepid home draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, their hopes of claiming a top-four berth are receding and the prospect of them qualifying for the Champions League next season seemingly rest on Europa League glory. Supporters are still on board with Jose Mourinho and they’ll tell anyone who’s willing to listen that the style of football really is very encouraging. This long unbeaten league run, stretching back to the 4-0 defeat at Chelsea in October, has even led to talk of United being the new Invincibles (if you ignore the games they’ve lost, that is), but all this run has done is lift them from sixth to fifth and mainly brings to mind Boris Grishenko immortal scenes from Goldeneye. Scoring 42 goals in 28 league games tells its own story; so do 11 draws. No more excuses about pesky goalkeepers and bad luck in front of goal and ifs and buts: just as it’s about time Everton made a statement in a big away game, it’s about time United won a game at home. And what better time than the present?
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
Updated
