Live Blog

Final whistle, game over. Some shambolic defending will cloud what was an otherwise decent performance for Everton. If Lampard’s job depended on the outcome of this game, then he’s getting sacked in the morning. If Lampard’s job depended on Everton’s performance tonight, then he’s bought himself some time.

90+6’ - Godfrey and Garnacho go for a ball at pace, the United player goes down easily and referee Darren England decides penalty. Oh well.
Rashford sends Pickford the wrong way, 3-1.

90+4’ - Godfrey stops Rashford for a corner, more time-wasting.

90+2’ - McNeil wins a corner on the left. Gray to take, overhit, Godfrey back into the box, off Doucoure and out for a goalkick.

90’ - Nevermind, it’s going to be just six minutes. Shameful some of this refereeing.

89’ - Rashford takes the freekick, Pickford over the bar. United wasting plenty of time here on the corner. After the Iwobi injury we should have a good chunk of time added on.

87’ - Onana tripped as he goes to tackle Rashford, ref doesn’t see it and United get a corner. Seconds later Onana slides into Martinez and is booked (deservedly so). Unfortunate for the youngster.

81’ - Lampard sends on Gordon and McNeil, with Coleman and Mykolenko going off. Good change that.
Slabhead Maguire and McTominay on for the hosts.

75’ - Malacia with another dangerous tackle, studs in on Coady and the Everton players are VERY unhappy. Right on the edge of legal/illegal again.
That’s the end for the United player - Casemiro, Martial and Malacia off, Garnacho, Fred and Martínez on.

72’ - GOAL!! 2-2!! Nope, offside. Ugh.
DCL’s had found Gray whose pretty flick had set Coleman free, he found Gray out wide on the right and the winger’s cross was chested into the goal from about one yard out. Turns out Gray was offside, and DCL likely was too.

69’ - There’s DCL on for Maupay.

66’ - Needless foul from Doucs on Rashford. Eriksen plays it off for Fernandes for a shot from distance, Pickford puts it over the bar.
Doucoure slides in on Rashford, who then makes the most of the marginal contact and the midfielder is booked. Eriksen’s freekick collected by Pickford. Calvert-Lewin will be on soon.

63’ - Doucs leads a break, bounces out to Coleman and his shot is parried away by De Gea, falls to a sliding Myko who cannot make solid contact, genuine chance that.

60’ - Godfrey deservedly booked, could have had worse too, went in with his studs showing on Rashford.

52’ - More misery. Rashford undresses Coleman by the touchline, his cross into the six-yard box is put into his own net by Coady. Ugh.

50’ - Iwobi is being stretchered off, he has face covered with his shirt and in a lot of pain. Oh boy. Doucoure is going to be coming on, will be interesting to see what punishment is in store for the United player though, as we’ve seen red cards for less.

46’ - Second half underway and it’s more of the same already.
Everton break away and Malacia goes sliding in on Iwobi and the Everton player looks to be badly hurt. The medical staff have gone rushing on the pitch.

Halftime Thoughts - The Blues have done well to bounce back after an awful, awful start. They’re still giving United a lot of chances to shoot, but look a lot better in the low block than when trying to play expansively with a high press.

45’ - Two minutes to be added on as United are finishing the half strong. There’s the halftime whistle, 1-1.

42’ - Twice or thrice Gray has set off on the counter and has looked very good when doing so though, but it’s only when he tries to involve his teammates that it’s been going awry.

40’ - Oooh! A pretty hit from Eriksen sizzles just over the bar, don’t think Pickford was going to get to that one.

32’ - Lead-footed Iwobi turns the ball over in the midfield and United get a shooting chance that Pickford parries away. The Nigerian has been poor since the resumption of football after the World Cup.

28’ - Getting feisty here. Godfrey and Rashford get in a scrap, and now Fernandes stamps on Onana and there’s more handbags going on.

22’ - Onana goes down hard clutching his ankle. He’s up again, but limping.

18’ - A loose pass in the middle allows United to attack at pace again, Martial played into the box and Pickford makes a huge save to keep this level.

14’ - 1-1!! Gray’s corner was cleared, and the ball pinged back and forth before a comical sequence ensues where De Gea lets a low cross from Maupay go through his legs and the alert Conor Coady tucks home! An equalizer against the run of play.

13’ - Close! Gray takes a potshot from distance and hits the post, and the rebound bounces off the back of De Gea and goes out for a corner, could have gone anywhere!

6’ - Pickford’s pass out is poor and ball comes right back to Martial whose shot is just wide of the far post. Everton are imploding here.

4’ - A quick counter from United and they lead just four minutes in. Mykolenko lost his man at the back post and as the low cross comes into the box, the unmarked Brazilian slides in and scores. Laughable this Everton team.

1’ - Underway at the Theatre of Dreams!

Frank Lampard has gone with the same formation he did at Manchester City, while Erik ten Hag has put out a pretty much full-strength lineup, so this game should go as expected.

Lineups

Everton

Manchester United

Preview

Everton were done no favours by the draw-makers as their FA Cup campaign in the 2022-23 season looks to be a very short one with a trip to in-form Manchester United.

The Toffees appear to be as fractured a squad as exactly a year ago, despite partly revamping an underperforming squad and are in relegation trouble again with just three league wins this term. They were bounced from the League Cup by AFC Bournemouth just before the World Cup break, and can expect a similar fate tonight at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils have quietly built a formidable side in just one summer since Erik ten Hag took over, and though no one is calling them serious title challengers, they are certainly in the mix for a Champions League berth. Quite how seriously they will take tonight’s fixture remains to be seen.

Friday night football is a rare treat for us fans, but in this case the sooner the Toffees play and be done so that we can all get on with our weekends, the better.

Match Details

Competition: FA Cup 3rd Round

Date and start time: Friday, January 6th at 12:00 p.m. PT / 3:00 p.m ET / 8:00 p.m. BST

Stadium: Old Trafford, Manchester, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 74,310

Weather: 51°F/11°C, cloudy, 15% chance of precipitation, 11 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: ESPN+ - United States; ITV 1 UK, STV Scotland - United Kingdom; Sportsnet - Canada, beIN Sports Premium 1, SuperSport Premier League ROA, SuperSport MaXimo 1 & 2, Star Sports Select 1, Sony TEN 2

Radio: evertontv, TalkSport Radio UK

Live stream: Fubo, Sportsnet.ca, ESPN Play Caribbean, Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH, Sony LIV, JioTV

Gamethread: Live blog above starting one hour before game time

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Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Last Meeting

The Blues’ last visit to the Theatre of Dreams was during Rafa Benitez’s short tenure early last season when they fell behind early, but hung in there long enough to score a brilliant counterattacking goal via Andros Townsend, a game not dissimilar to how they played last weekend at the Red Devils’ neighbours Manchester City.

Everton have already played United this season at Goodison, with the visitors coming away with a 2-1 win, Alex Iwobi got the Blues’ sole marker.