Manchester United advanced to the fourth round of the FA Cup after defeating Everton 3-1 this evening. Within five minutes, Antony opened the scoring after great link-up play between Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford for Erik ten Hag’s men.
After ten minutes of sustained pressure from the Toffees, the away side equalised through Conor Coady. After halftime, another quick start from the Reds saw us reclaim the lead. Rashford, who displayed excellent footwork down the left flank, drilled the ball into the Everton box, which Coady turned into his own net.
Man-of-the-match Rashford sealed the victory from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time. Despite a scrappy game, a 3-1 victory puts our name in the hat for the next round.In true FA Cup fashion, both teams were greeted on the field by an electrifying atmosphere inside Old Trafford.
And it didn’t take United long to get going, scoring within the first five minutes. Anthony Martial took command in the middle of the park before releasing Marcus Rashford. Our number 10 drove into the box and crossed the ball across goal for Antony to get the final touch and tap home.
Minutes later, Martial came within a whisker of doubling our lead, but his effort flew just wide Pickford.
A jubilant away end wouldn’t have to wait long for their team to equalise, as the Toffees equalised just ten minutes after our opener. Neal Maupay’s low delivery slipped through David de Gea’s legs, allowing an unmarked Conor Coady to tap in and tie the game.
The game was frantic at 1-1, with tackles flying all over the pitch as both teams tried to carve out the next goal.
Ten Hag’s men came closest to regaining the lead moments after conceding, with Martial’s attempt to restore our lead well saved by Pickford after Rashford drove us forward on the break. A couple of long-range efforts from Rashford and Christian Eriksen came agonisingly close to regaining the lead, but we went into the break level. In the second half, the Reds continued where they left off in the first. We were back in front seven minutes after the restart thanks to some Rashford magic in front of the Stretford End.
After picking up the ball out wide, he drove into the box, beating his defender with lovely footwork before his drilled cross was turned into the Everton net by Toffees defender Coady.
The Reds began to establish some dominance after regaining our one-goal lead, but second-half substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin had other ideas. Everton’s no.9 converted Demarai Gray’s quality ball into the box to make it 2-2, but VAR intervened and disallowed their equaliser due to Gray being offside in the build-up.
Rashford came close to putting us ahead with a late free kick, but Pickford deflected it over the bar to deny his England teammate. Our no.10 stepped up to take a penalty deep into stoppage time, which was won by Alejandro Garnacho, but this time it was Rashford who came out on top to put the game to bed from United’s perspective.
