Last season Everton were beaten by a late Cristiano Ronaldo penalty at Old Trafford after the winger had given United the lead only to see Tim Cahill equalise. The match at Goodison earlier this season ended 1-1 with Marouane Fellaini and Darren Fletcher scoring. Everton have won just one – at Goodison in April 2005 – of the last 28 meetings since the 1995 FA Cup final win, with just five draws. Their last win at Old Trafford was in United’s opening Premier League home fixture in August 1992. They won 3-0, which has still not been surpassed by a visiting team in the league since, although Chelsea also won 3-0 in December 2001.
David Moyes has one victory and three draws from his 14 meetings with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Everton’s Premier League record against United is as follows:
| P | W | D | L | |
| Home | 17 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| Away | 16 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| Total | 33 | 3 | 5 | 25 |
The Goals
There have been only six hat-tricks in matches between the sides, the most recent being the four goals scored by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in December 1999 at Old Trafford.
The last Everton hat-trick was the five goals by Dixie Dean at Goodison in October 1927. No Everton player has scored a hat-trick in a first-team fixture at Old Trafford, although Alex Latta netted four goals in 1892 when United played at the North Road ground under their original name of Newton Heath.
Leon Osman has a hat-trick against United to his credit – in a reserve team fixture in January 2003.
Both Neville brothers have conceded own goals in the fixture – Gary at Old Trafford on Boxing Day 2003 and Phil (with Everton) at Goodison in April 2007. The brothers are one of only four pairs to have faced one another in Everton games.
Two of Leighton Baines’ four career goals have been scored against United – both for Wigan in 2006/07.
Tim Cahill has happy memories of Old Trafford, not only did the Australian score for Everton on his last visit but in 2004 he made his Toffees debut on the ground, having also struck the winner for Millwall in their FA Cup semi final win over Sunderland at the venue earlier in the year.
United’s John O’Shea has scored at both ends in matches against Everton, and has also achieved the same feat against Liverpool, for a unique double.
The Players
Five players have been sent-off in the fixture – the most recent being the double dismissals of Gary Neville and Paul Scholes at Goodison – United’s only red-cards in league matches against Everton – in April 2005.
The Toffees’ most recent sending-off is David Weir at Old Trafford in October 2002.
Ryan Giggs made his Manchester United debut as a 17 year-old against Everton in March 1991.
Edwin Van der Sar – who has just broken the Premier League record for minutes without conceding a goal - was the Fulham keeper for David Moyes’ first match in charge of Everton in 2002, and the Dutch international conceded a goal from David Unsworth after just 32 seconds.
If Joleon Lescott appears on Saturday the centre-half will become only the sixth Everton player to record 100 successive league appearances and only the second after 19th century great Jack Taylor to do so from the start of their Goodison career.
Everton players with the most successive league appearances:
Neville Southall 212 (Oct 1987 – Feb 1993)
Cyril Lello 141 (Dec 1952 – Mar 1956)
Jack Taylor 122 (Sep 1896 – Mar 1899)
Joe Royle 108 (May 1968 – Dec 1970)
Alec Troup 100 (Sep 1926 – 25 Dec 1928)
Joleon Lescott 99 (Aug 2006 – Jan 2009)
General
Everton have not been awarded a league penalty against United for nearly 20 years – the last being in September 1989 when Kevin Sheedy missed at Goodison. You have to go back to August 1972 to find Everton’s last successful league spot-kick against United, converted by Joe Royle at Goodison.
Since Cristiano Ronaldo scored after 23 minutes of the fixture at Old Trafford in December 2007, the Toffees have conceded first-half goals in only two of the 20 away league matches played.
As for todays game, I predict a 3-0 victory for Manchester United. They seem to be impossible to score against at the moment and I predict that trend will continue for the next two matches at least with the return of Patrice Evra which gives us much better balance at the back. I appreciate Everton are a strong side but when United have their tails up they can beat anyone on the day......Back To Home Page...
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