Manchester United defeated Everton 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday, thanks to a superb strike from Anthony Martial.
The French teenager scored the only goal of the game in the second half, thus notching up the 1000th Barclays Premier League goal at the Theatre of Dreams, on a day that also celebrated Sir Bobby Charlton’s association with the club.
There was a heart-warming tribute to Charlton before the game kicked off, as United celebrated the 60th anniversary of the legend’s association with the club by renaming the stand opposite the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand as the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand.
The pageantry before the game was unfortunately not mirrored when the action on the football pitch started, as both sides struggled to stitch together a clear move, with the defences reigning supreme.
The 17th minute brought some respite, however, as Martial worked his way to the right edge of the goal and got a wonderfully swerving shot off despite being surrounded by Everton defenders, although his effort flew narrowly wide of Joel Robles’ goal, aided by a slight nick from Leighton Baines.
John Stones was marshalling Marcus Rashford well, with Romelu Lukaku having a contest of his own with Daley Blind.
However, on the 26th minute, Lukaku spun off Blind, dummying a forward pass and looked set to run clear on goal. David de Gea came to United’s rescue yet again, rushing off his goal line to clear the ball outside his penalty box.
As the half wore on, with Gerard Deulofeu making merry down the right wing, there wasn’t much else on offer, although United had a penalty appeal in the 35th minute, as Seamus Coleman took both ball and man in tackling Marcus Rojo, but the referee waved the appeals away, and then later blew the whistle to end a dreary first half.
With Charlton in attendance, such a momentous occasion required much more than the drab fare that was on offer, and Martial came to the fore, just like many times this season, scoring the opener in the 53rd minute.
Everton almost equalised straight after, as Phil Jagielka outmuscled Michael Carrick from a corner, and powered a free header at the crossbar with David de Gea beaten, with Louis van Gaal reacting with relief on the touchline.
United held on to confirm the victory, which takes them to a single point behind Manchester City in fourth.
