Everton pulled off a magnificent 1-0 win at home to Manchester United in their opening game of the season to tarnish Ferguson’s hopes of retaining the football trophy of all domestic football trophies – the Premier League title.
It’s early days for United though and there’s plenty of time for them to pull up their football socks. New signing Shinji Kagawa had a busy game, not setting the world alight but still managing a couple of penetrating balls through to the big hitters up front.
Van Persie came off the bench midway through the second half to do not much at all, he will need to do more to shine in a team that has more stars than Arsenal had last season. If Van Persie wants to keep his regular football kit he needs to step up to the plate and start scoring more goals than Rooney.
All credit to the Toffees though, this will be just the start Moyes would have wanted for his men after having to let Cahill go to the New York Red Bulls. Everton have been in the top half of the Premier League for what seems like an age, but could this be the year they finally contend for the chance to compete in Europe? It’s unlikely they’ll be serious contenders for the title and the Premier League winner’s football medals, but if Newcastle can nearly make it to Europe then the Toffees will definitely be in with a chance.
The real star of the show was Maouane Fellaini, who hit the post and dominated the Red Devils in the air before smashing home a header on 57 minutes. He put in a real work-horse performance last night and will be pleased to have created such a wave throughout United’s textbook defence.
Like I said though, there’s a long way to go. And Everton’s players dropping to the ground on the final whistle could be a sign that they don’t have the fitness to ever really contend for the top six.
