Article: Manchester United v Everton | Everton FC, Football

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Manchester United's last five results:

Manchester United 1-0 West Ham (Rooney) - FA Cup
Tottenham 1-1 Manchester United (Van Persie)
Manchester United 4-1 Fulham (Giggs, Rooney, Hernandez x2) - FA Cup
Manchester United 2-1 Southampton (Rooney x2)
Fulham 0-1 Manchester United (Rooney)

Everton's last five results:

Everton 0-0 Swansea
Southampton 0-0 Everton
Bolton 1-2 Everton (Pienaar, Heitinga) - FA Cup
Everton 2-1 West Brom (Baines x2)
Everton 3-3 Astin Villa (Anichebe, Fellaini x2)


kick off 16:00, Sunday 10th Ferbruary 2013. Live on Sky Sports 1.

Preview

Sunday's game will be the 189th meeting between the two sides. Manchester United have had the share of the spoils with 81 wins compared to Everton's 65, whilst 42 matches have finished all level.

The last time Everton beat Manchester United at Old Trafford was in the first ever premier league season in 1992 as the toffees ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Peter Beardsley, Robert Warzycha and Mo Johnston.

Manchester United's last win in this fixture came much more recently when on 23rd April 2011 Javier Hernandez headed in an 83rd minute winner to secure a 1-0 victory for Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

The last match up between the sides fell in Everton's favour as Marouane Fellaini notched in Everton's goal in what was a prolific night for the Belgian as Everton ran out 1-0 winners on the opening weekend of the season.

However, the most emphatic recent meeting between the two sides is without doubt the 4-4 draw at Old Trafford last season, as Everton came back from 4-2 down to grab a point. A moment in the season often referred to as the start of Manchester United losing grip on the top of the table. No doubt the Red Devils will be looking for revenge on Sunday afternoon.

Manchester United

Manchester United have hit a good run of form, though they have done for a while now. They are so far unbeaten in 2013 and have been since November. Since that last defeat which came away to Norwich, they've sat top of the table ever since.

Sir Alex Ferguson's strength in depth up front has shown so far this season whilst for the first half of the season Robin Van Persie provided a large of amount of goals and as you can see from the goal scorers in their last five fixtures, Rooney is very much a man in form. Whilst Hernandez as usual has provided some vital goals when necessary. Along with Welbeck, it's arguably the best attacking department in the league.

However, Manchester United have been frail at the back as they sit 8th in the table of least goals conceded, demonstrated in the table below this paragraph. However that won't come as a surprise to many considering their "we'll score more than you" approach to many games this season.

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Sir Alex Ferguson has a selection dilemma to face for this match. In their last match, nearest rivals Manchester City fell two points further back in the title race to extend the gap to 9 points. This may push players to be rested as on Wednesday internationals are being played whilst Manchester United have an important Champions league match against Real Madrid on the following Wednesday.

Phil Jones and Michael Carrick have already pulled out of international duty for England whilst Smalling, Cleverley, Rooney and Welbeck still remain in the squad.

Everton

Everton are in patchy form at the moment. Six points from the last four league fixtures has been a disappointing return for the blues however there have been some positives. For the first time since September Everton managed to score more than two goals in a match and also in January they kept a clean sheet (back to back) for the first time since September.

Everton's star players have played a big part in their season so far. Fellaini, who is Everton's top scorer has managed to pull Everton out of precarious situations on several occasions to earn them points. As recently as last Saturday when he scored twice to bring Everton level at 3-3. However, Leighton Baines has been a shining light too. One of Europes highest chance creators this season has pretty much been a playmaker at left back, arguably the best left back in the league. Manchester United reject Darron Gibson has had his season hindered by injuries but when he has played, Everton have looked a better outfit and is definitely the unsung hero of the team despite Leon Osman's plaudits. The Irishman is still yet to lose a league game in an Everton shirt.

Everton have been known for their fighting spirit over the years and this season has proved no difference with the toffees gaining 20 points from losing positions this season, beaten only by the opponents on Sunday (24 points). The most memorable of comebacks this season will be the 2-1 home win against Tottenham as Steven Pienaar and Nikicia Jelavic netted injury time goals.

Everton currently sit in 5th place, 3 points off the champions league position so although it will be a tough task, Everton really need to pick up points in this match to keep up the pressure on Tottenham in 4th place.

The current league table after match day 25:

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Injury News and Suspensions

Manchester United:

Darren Fletcher - Chronic Bowel Condition - No return date
Ashley Young - Knee Injury - Late Fitness test

Everton:

Seamus Coleman - Hip/Thigh injury - 23/02/13
Tony Hibbert - Calf/Shin injury - No return date


Enjoy the game!

 

I think and I'm hoping that this is the team:

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I think UTD are finding their balance back tbh
you need to remember UTD conceded only 3 in last 6 PL games with 3 cleans sheets since our CBs are back (particularly Vidic) .. those days you are talking about are for games where we only had 1-2 CB fit and they kept changing and even carrick playing as CB at times, we couldn't keep same back 4 for two matches in a row.
I think UTD is less club that conceded goals since January

regarding the game, i expect a tough game, will not be surprised if you get a point, especially with UTD preparing for Real game and Sir Alex deciding to rest some players or the players themselves focusing on Real game more .. am sure Sir Alex will put a team that is more than enough to beat you guys, but with Fellaini in your side, everything is possible

 

United have been bang average for me this season, with only the brilliance of RvP & the fact that psychologically most sides believe they are beaten before even getting on the pitch, setting them aside from the pack.

We should go there with no fear & take them on, as they aint all that.

 

I just don't get this TB. Bang average and yet 9 points clear having scored a shedload of goals. Yes we've conceded a lot as well but going forward we have been pretty good. I also don't get the assertion that we've been overly reliant on RVP. We've had 18 different goalscorers this season. City have had 14 but no one says they are reliant on Dzeko and Chelsea have had 16 but no one says they are reliant on Mata!

 

Just saying it how I see it.

You've conceded more goals than anyone else in the top 6 & RvP has scored nearly 1/3 of your goals, without his goals you'd be nowhere mate.

I've watched a fair few of your games this season & you've been far from the free flowing sides of the past. You've been getting results, which is a tribute to Fergusons instilled mentality, but to be behind in so many games this season, isn't the United of old imo.

 

Can't ever remember a top side that didn't have a "we'll score more than you" approach to football...

Given we've more points at this stage of the season than anyone bar Chelsea in 04/05, if we're average what the **** is everyone else!

 

Everyone seems to conveniently forget how badly those "free flowing" sides of the past got turned over at times. The Ronaldo and Rooney vintage may have played some great football at some points, but also huffed and puffed and lost against Bolton, Boro, a pre money City, Liverpool, West Ham and plenty of other average sides. And I remember people back then saying exactly the same thing about how we were reliant on Ronaldo, and not as good as the Utd of old.

It begs the question of just how old this Utd of old side were!

 

It seems we've always been reliant on one player. It's currently RVP, before him it was Rooney, before that it was Ronaldo, before that it was RVN and so on. Thank god we've always got that one player to rely on.

 

If Everton play like they did against Villa, I would expect UTD to stuff them over.

 

Pretty ****e in the main.

This is the poorest PL for years in terms of quality & it appears that defending has gone out of fashion.

The current United side isn't all that, but is still romping away with the title.

 

He's our main striker and has hardly missed a match, how many goals do you expect your main striker to score? Only 10%?

I would guess your main striker should score about a third, your other strikers should get another third and then the rest of the team should all chip in for the final third...

 

I thought that was 10/11? Let me guess, this one is now even worse

 

It is worse, it's crap in terms of quality.

A fact borne out by the performances of our sides in Europe.

 

We need to be at our best to go to Old Trafford to get any sort of result somthing we are not at the moment...

Its a hell of a fixture even with our first choice team..You can probably tell I'm not optamistic lol a draw at best for me...

 

As long as Heitinga isn't at CB I think we're capable of doing OK.

United don't like facing us these days imo, we're rapidly becoming a bit of a bogey side for them & our comeback last season ended up costing them the title.

However, RvP always scores against us, so we'll have to notch to earn a point imo.

 

i know .. isn't? we beat liverpool home and away, City away in a game which we should had been 3-0 , beat chelsea away, beat Arseanl .. am sure those teams were fearing UTD isn't? oh wait it doesn't make sense..

UTD had some bad moments without our CBs and injuries that forced us to changing the back 4 constantly, that made us a bit shaky
beside, with UTD fighting on many fronts, i can't blame players for not pushing the gear up when they are wining

 

blah, blah, you've also scraped past sides e.g. Saturday & Southampton.

& your last sentence, just lol.

 

bcz we didn't pushed the gear up
we know we can score when need one, so players didn't give 100%

and sure you can't understand my last statement .. bcz your players are not playing for national sides or in CL and don't go to final stages of cups.. players in bigger clubs play lots of games during the season, so they get tired faster and feel they need to preserve energy more so they don't brunt out by end of season

 

Pushed what gear & up where?

Players don't give 100%? Really? I'm sure Sir Alex would allow that to happen.....