After quipping whether there was anyone Everton have a good record against, Sean Dyche must try and overcome another Blues away day hoodoo as his side travel to Manchester United.
Dyche has been in charge of Everton for little over two months but has already had to face away fixtures against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, a trio of head-to-heads the Blues haven’t picked up three points from in front of fans this century, with their last Premier League victories coming in such circumstances coming in 1999, 1996 and 1994 respectively. Now he must negotiate Old Trafford, another venue that has been anything but a happy hunting ground for travelling Evertonians. Despite currently being their shortest Premier League trip outside of Merseyside, like even that short journey across Stanley Park, the Blues have found few home comforts in this corner of Stretford throughout recent decades.
Indeed, while Everton’s first-ever Premier League win came here when Howard Kendall’s side upset Alex Ferguson’s champions-elect 3-0 on August 19, 1992 thanks to goals from Peter Beardsley, Robert Warzycha and Mo Johnston, they have only triumphed there since on one subsequent occasion thanks to Bryan Oviedo’s 86th-minute strike on December 4, 2013 when long-serving Blues boss David Moyes was beaten by his former employers under Roberto Martinez’s watch. Although Everton were 2-0 up through a Duncan Ferguson brace until 20 minutes from the end of another August fixture at Old Trafford in 1996, only to draw 2-2, in truth there haven’t even been many other near-misses.
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The closest the Blues came to another win was in April 2017 when Phil Jagielka’s 22nd-minute effort had them in front until the last minute when Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalised following an Ashley Williams handball. Other than that, the only other occasions they have taken the lead have been for eight minutes through Nikica Jelavic’s opener in the 4-4 thriller in 2012; for eight minutes again after James McFadden put them ahead in a 1-1 draw in 2005 and for 19 minutes in 1999 after Francis Jeffers put them ahead in what proved to be a 5-1 thrashing.
Everton’s Premier League record at Old Trafford, where they have two wins in 30 visits, is curiously similar to their overall away form in recent times. Since triumphing 2-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion on August 28, 2021, the Blues have won just two matches out of 31 in the competition on the road – 2-1 at Leicester City on May 8, 2022 and 2-1 at Southampton on October 1, 2022.
Since the sides last went head-to-head, with the Red Devils winning 3-1 in an FA Cup third round tie on January 6, Erik ten Hag’s side have been beaten on three occasions – 3-2 at Arsenal; a record-breaking 7-0 thrashing at Liverpool and 2-0 at Newcastle United, who they had beaten five weeks earlier in the Carabao Cup final.
But could this be an opportune time to inflict their first Premier League home defeat since a Brighton & Hove Albion outfit managed by Graham Potter enjoyed a 2-1 success in the Dutchman’s inaugural competitive match in charge? United edged out Brentford 1-0 in their last match on Wednesday night and Everton’s visit comes before a third successive home game against Sevilla next Thursday for their Europa League quarter-final showdown.
Dyche himself has only won once in his 14 previous fixtures against United – all with Burnley and in the Premier League, with five draws and eight defeats. His solitary success did come at Old Trafford though as a Clarets side containing current Blues pair Mancunian James Tarkowski and former United youth player Dwight McNeil enjoyed a 2-0 victory over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men on January 22, 2020 with Chris Wood and Jay Rodriguez netting. Loyal but long-suffering Evertonians would accept a mere one-goal cushion if it were enough to pull off a famous win this time around.
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