Fernandes double as Man Utd beat Everton

Bruno Fernandes’ double eased the pressure on boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Manchester United got back to winning ways at Everton.

Jordan Pickford’s punt forward was flicked on by Dominic Calvert-Lewin before Bernard found the bottom corner with a crisp strike.

But within the space of 13 minutes, Solskjaer’s team completed a turnaround.

They equalised five minutes after going behind when Fernandes ghosted into the box and headed past Pickford from Luke Shaw’s cross for his fifth goal of the season.

Then after Lucas Digne had hit David de Gea’s right post with a rising shot, United went ahead as Fernandes’s lofted cross towards Marcus Rashford dropped into the bottom corner.

There were further chances for a much-improved United before Edinson Cavani scored his first goal for the club on the counter-attack in the final minute of added time.

The win sees United avoid their worst start to a top-flight season after seven games since 1990-91, and gives Solskjaer breathing space as the Premier League heads into the International break.

Victory for Everton would have taken them to the top of the table, but they struggled to break down United after their opener and were thankful to Pickford who returned to the side and made several saves.

A third successive defeat means they remain fifth in the table as United climb to 13th.

United offer perfect response to Solskjaer pressure

Pressure had mounted on Solskjaer after poor results and performances in two games over the past week.

But the Norwegian maintained that he would not “fall like a house of cards” and insisted he is the right man to take the club forward, despite former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino being linked with his job.

Once again, Solskjaer showed that when the pressure is on his team can produce a positive result, and it underlined his point that maybe the team is not in crisis but lacking consistency.

Having made four changes to the side that lost in Istanbul, Everton’s opener did little to calm fears about the United defence, which conceded a shocking first goal on Wednesday from their own corner.

Everton took a route-one approach with Calvert-Lewin’s flick leading to Bernard’s shot which hit the post on its way in.

But with Victor Lindelof back in the side, and more protection from Fred and Scott McTominay in midfield, United were more solid in defence, and had the wizardry of Fernandes to get them back into the game.

The Portuguese likes Goodison Park, having scored here last season in a 1-1 draw, and his header was well-taken after he found space in the Everton box.

Shaw, who took advantage of James Rodriguez failing to track back, also helped in United’s second by allowing Rashford to drift inside and support Fernandes for his sixth goal of the season.

Harry Maguire was much improved, but was involved in successive dramas around the hour mark when he had a penalty appeal turned down by the video assistant referee before taking out Digne with a hefty challenge despite getting the ball.

But Solskjaer, who could rightly point to further chances for Rashford, would have been relieved by Cavani’s injury-time goal as Everton searched for an equaliser.

The Argentine swept in from Fernandes’ pass to get off the mark and make it an almost perfect day for United and their under-fire manager.

The best of the stats

• Manchester United are just the third team to win three consecutive Premier League away games after conceding the first goal, after Leeds United (October 1999) and Tottenham Hotspur (December 2013).
• They have now won 17 Premier League away games at Goodison Park, the most victories for a visiting side at a specific venue in the competition.
• Having been unbeaten in their first five Premier League games this season (W4 D1), Everton have now lost each of their last three. It’s the first time manager Carlo Ancelotti has lost three league games in a row since November 2006 with AC Milan.
• Both sides scored with their first shots on target in this match, with Everton’s goal in the 19th minute their only effort on target in the whole match.
• Manchester United’s first two goals in this match both had 15+ passes in the build-up, the first time the Red Devils have scored 2+ such goals in the same league match since November 2016 (vs Swansea).
• Fernandes has had a hand in 15 Premier League goals in his 10 Premier League away matches (10 goals, 5 assists); it’s the most goal involvements a player has had in their first 10 games on the road in the competition, while only Kevin Phillips scored as many (10).
• He has now scored 18 goals in all competitions for Manchester United, with his equalising strike today his first headed goal for the club.
• Cavani (33y 267d) became the oldest player to score his first Premier League goal since Zlatan Ibrahimovic in August 2016 (34y 316d).

What’s next?

Everton travel to Fulham on Saturday, 21 November (15:00 GMT kick-off), while Manchester United host West Brom at Old Trafford on the same day, also at 15:00 GMT.

More to follow.

Player of the match

Bruno FernandesBruno Fernandes

Everton

1. Squad number20Player nameBernard

2. Squad number9Player nameCalvert-Lewin

3. Squad number23Player nameColeman

4. Squad number12Player nameDigne

5. Squad number19Player nameRodríguez

6. Squad number5Player nameKeane

7. Squad number6Player nameAllan

8. Squad number17Player nameIwobi

9. Squad number16Player nameDoucouré

10. Squad number4Player nameHolgate

11. Squad number10Player nameG Sigurdsson

12. Squad number14Player nameTosun

13. Squad number1Player namePickford

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