Everton 4-0 Manchester United: 3 things we learned

Everton stunned Manchester United 4-0 in a Premier League match at the Goodison Park today. It was United’s heaviest Premier Leaguedefeat under the tutelage of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Digne and Theo Walcott scored the goals for Everton in the 13th, 28th, 56th and 64th minute respectively.

The Toffees are now at the 7th position in the league table with 49 points from 35 matches, whereas United stay on 6th with 64 from 34. United now have the worst goal difference among the top 6 teams, and it would be a herculean task for them to finish inside the top 4.

Everton were the better team undoubtedly in the match, and got 10 corners against United’s 2. We would now take a look at the 3 things we learned from the match:

#1 Everton dominated the first half after a strong start

Everton started strong, as United had difficulties in settling down. Everton’s dominance can be gauged from the fact that they actually obtained 5 corner-kicks in the first 17 minutes of the match. The likes of Richarlison, Sigurdsson, Gana and Digne made life difficult for the United defenders.

Richarlison came very close to scoring in the 10th minute of the match, but his shot from inside the penalty box was saved by David de Gea. He was, however, second time lucky, as he got the ball again inside the penalty box from a throw-in, and scored through an overhead volley. It was his 14th goal of the season.

Everton got their second goal from a counter-attack, as Gana got the ball inside his own half, and passed it to an advancing Sigurdsson. The latter got hold of the ball and tried his luck from 30 yards out. His powerful shot gave De Gea no chance, and entered into the goal off a bounce. One might argue that De Gea could have done better to thwart his attempt there.