There isn’t much that should shock us in football anymore, but the sight of two teammates at each others’ throats certainly takes some beating.
So it was that Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane channelled their inner Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer – or David Batty and Graeme Le Saux for fans’ of an older persuasion – at Old Trafford.
What made it all the more ridiculous was that Everton had got off a solid start, and the astonishing incident in the 13th minute came after Manchester United’s first foray into the danger zone.
When Bryan Mbeumo’s run came to nothing, Gueye took possession of the ball but his stray pass to Keane allowed Bruno Fernandes to fire narrowly wide from distance.
The spat between 5ft 9in Gueye and 6ft 3in Keane escalated dramatically as the veteran Senegal midfielder slapped his teammate around the face with his left hand and tried again for good measure as they clashed furiously.
There were echoes of Bowyer going at it with his Newcastle teammate Dyer when both were sent off against Aston Villa in April 2005, and Batty and Le Saux when Blackburn lost to Spartak Moscow a decade earlier.
Idrissa Gueye was sent off for slapping Everton team-mate Michael Keane in a bizarre incident
The sending off did not hamper the visitors as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s goal won the match for the 10 men
Referee Tony Harrington, whose only intervention up to that point had been to settle some handbags between James Tarkowski and Joshua Zirkzee, immediately reached for the red card and Gueye was off.
Even then, the 36-year-old had to be wrestled towards the tunnel by his goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as he threatened to completely lose his head. It really was the height of idiocy, and Gueye is fortunate his team put up such a brilliant effort to win this game.
The bust-up came just moments after a disconsolate Everton captain Seamus Coleman had headed straight for the away dressing-room as his first start in two months lasted less than 10 minutes, and there was every expectation at that point that the balance of the game had swung firmly in United’s favour.
Credit to David Moyes’s side though. They cleared their heads – perhaps literally in Keane’s case – and took the lead with an excellent goal just before the half hour mark.
Former United youngster James Garner fed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and he shrugged off a half-hearted challenge from Fernandes before stepping inside Leny Yoro and unleashing a fantastic effort from the edge of the box which Senne Lammens could only help only help on its way into the top corner.
It was enough to give David Moyes his first Premier League win at Old Trafford in 18 attempts against his old club as Everton, West Ham and Sunderland manager, and end Ruben Amorim’s five-match unbeaten run that had created so much optimism ahead of what was the first anniversary of his first game in charge.
A big win could have seen United move up as high as fourth place in the table. Instead they stay in 10th, level on points with Moyes’s side, after failing to win for the third game in a row.
Amorim, for one, hasn’t been getting carried away by United’s mini-revival. It was in the aftermath of a 4-0 win over Everton in the corresponding fixture last season that he warned a storm was coming, and he warned in the build-up to this game that it has yet to pass. Once again, his instincts have served him well.
Joshua Zirkzee had United’s best chance but he was denied by a superb Jordan Pickford save
United’s recent revival under Ruben Amorim came to an end with defeat at Old Trafford
United were strangely subdued in the first half despite the numerical advantage, even allowing for their problems in attack.
Without Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha – whose injury was bizarrely revealed by Visit Altrincham’s social media feed when he was unable to switch on the Christmas lights at the weekend – Zirkzee was given his first start in 225 days and failed to take the opportunity.
Assuming Cunha and Sesko are fit sooner rather than later, it would make sense for the unsettled Dutchman to go out on loan in January to secure the first-team football he needs ahead of the World Cup.
Everton had threatened twice through the excellent Iliman Ndiaye before Gueye’s moment of madness, and were well worth their lead with 10 men.
United rallied before half-time as Patrick Dorgu blazed high and wide from Zirkzee’s cross to the back post, Amad Diallo fired straight at Pickford, and the England keeper produced an excellent save to tip away another long-ranger from Fernandes.
Amorim, who named Lisandro Martinez in the squad for the first time since early February and put him on the bench alongside rookie winger Shea Lacey, made changes to try and turn the game.
Mason Mount was sent on at half-time and Kobbie Mainoo and Diogo Dalot followed shortly after the restart. Everton, meanwhile, re-emerged expecting an onslaught and fought for their lives to withstand it.
Keane was at the centre of another incident when his outstretched leg sent Mbeumo tumbling in the penalty area, but VAR ruled correctly that the former United man got the ball.
Everton ended a long wait for victory at Old Trafford, winning there for the first time since 2013
The Cameroon international, who will be sorely missed when he goes to the Africa Cup of Nations next month, then forced a smart save from Pickford before Fernandes turned the ball over from close range with the outside of his right boot.
Zirzkee almost emerged as United’s unlikely saviour when his flick header from Luke Shaw’s cross was superbly turned around the post by Pickford who then produced another fine save from Zirkzee in front of watching England manager Thomas Tuchel as Everton clung on to the end.
All things considered, it was a fantastic win for Moyes’s side – and for that Idrissa Gueye should be very grateful.
