Everton face Manchester United in the Premier League on Monday night, in a strangely timed scheduling for such a fixture – but previous history suggests David Moyes will do well.
Everton’s trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United will be their fourth Monday Night Football game from just 12 so far in the Premier League this season.
There has been little success so far, with no wins from those three games including a loss to newly-promoted Leeds and dropped points to relegation-threatened West Ham.
But David Moyes has already proven that he can beat his former side on a Monday night, to stop the rot of this season’s game week-closing fixtures – with a 1-0 win 13 years ago at Goodison Park.
Everton v Fulham - Premier League
Photo by Ben Roberts – Danehouse/Getty Images
Incidentally, Everton’s win over Manchester United on that Monday Night Football was on the opening day of the season.
The Toffees had only just brought in Steven Naismith from Rangers, Steven Pienaar had returned on a permanent deal from Tottenham Hotspur, and Kevin Mirallas was shortly set to be unveiled to fans after signing in from Olympiacos the day prior.
Manchester United, meanwhile, had signed Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell earlier in the window, but Robin van Persie was their main acquisition, signing from Arsenal just days before.
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Everton started with Pienaar in the lineup on his return, whilst Van Persie was on the bench after his move.
But it was the Toffees who got the last laugh on the day. A corner swung in by Darron Gibson met the head of Marouane Fellaini, and Everton held on from there to record an opening win to start the season.
It was a solid start and with United eventually winning the Premier League that season, it proved to be a solid win for the Scottish boss.
David Moyes needs to turn poor record at Old Trafford around later this week
That season was Moyes’ last as Everton boss, only losing once at Goodison Park and winning 12 of their 19 games in the league.
That was counter-acted by some incredibly poor away form, with the Toffees failing to win away from home after January 2nd.
Had Everton won just four of those games, they’d have qualified for the Champions League.
Venue Wins Draws Losses
Home 12 6 1
Away 4 9 6
Total 16 15 7
Moyes has made a decent start to life at Everton since the start of his second tenure, winning 13 of his 33 games in charge of the Toffees, being reinforced with a 2-0 win over Fulham last time out.
And if he is to get them back into European contention once again, wins against Manchester United will be crucial to doing so.
In fact, that famous Monday night win was just his fourth in 23 attempts, and he’s only won once at Old Trafford in his career from 20 attempts, in a 1-0 Carabao Cup win with West Ham three years ago.
Fans will be hoping that can be turned around going forwards into the upcoming clash.