It was the 13th minute of Manchester United vs Everton, the game still finely poised at 0-0, when the visitors’ afternoon was turned upside down by a moment of internal implosion. Idrissa Gueye’s dismissal for striking his own teammate Michael Keane, left Everton down to 10 men with supporters at Old Trafford stunned.
IDRISSA GUEYE SEES RED FOR STRIKING HIS OWN TEAMMATE 🤯🟥
The Everton man loses the plot after slapping Michael Keane as his teammates fail to contain him.
↳ Premier League. Live & On Demand with 4K on Football’s New Home, Stan Sport. Stream now.#StanSportAU #PremierLeague pic.twitter.com/7zl5k6mvjA
— Stan Sport Football (@StanSportFC) November 24, 2025
What began as a heated discussion quickly escalated. The pair moved chest to chest, shoving one another as teammates looked on. Gueye appeared to then slap Keane, making clear contact with the defender’s face. The reaction from the referee was immediate and the red card was out almost instantly, leaving Everton having to hold back Gueye who was clearly bothered.
“The major anger he showed was after he was sent off. It looked innocuous,” said Gary Neville, working on Sky Sports. “My gut feeling is yellow would have been enough.”
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford stepped in, trying to calm the midfielder and guide him away from the scene. The dismissal left Everton with a hurdle to climb, at a stadium that hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for them – with their last win coming at Old Trafford in 2013.
According to Opta, it is only the third time this has happened since they’ve been capturing data: Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer – for Newcastle against Aston Villa in 2005 – and Ricardo Fuller with Andy Griffin for Stoke in 2008 against West Ham, the other two examples.
Everton manager David Moyes didn’t seem overly bothered – but also didn’t think it was a red card.
“We don’t see it very often. If nothing had happened afterwards, I don’t think anybody in the stadium would’ve been surprised. I thought the referee could’ve maybe taken a bit longer to think about it,” he said.
“I’ve been told that if you slap your own player or if you leave an arm in then you could be in some form of trouble, but there is another side to it. I quite like my players fighting each other and getting annoyed with each other.
“If you want a winning team, with the resilience and toughness that got us the result, then I think you’ve got to have players that are going to react in that way. I’m disappointed we got the sending off but every player will tell you how angry they get with their team-mates.
“He has apologised in the dressing room for the sending off, praised the players endlessly for their performance tonight and thanked them for it.”
Incredibly, the chaos did not break Everton’s resolve. Minutes after going down to 10 men, they found a response through Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who struck to give the visitors a remarkable lead despite their handicap.
Everton went on to hold out Manchester United 1-0 with Dewsbury-Hall’s stunner from outside the box proving to be the decider. The Toffees now improve their standing on the table to 11th, equal on points with Tottenham, Manchester United and Liverpool.
“He has been playing really well. His goal is exactly what we want from him,” Moyes said of Dewsbury-Hall.
“He has been a bit unlucky maybe to not hit a couple more this season. He has been a big help to us as a team and has helped us improve. I’m really pleased for him because he works really hard and is a solid professional.”
“I’m feeling really frustrated, like any other person that supports Manchester United,” their boss Ruben Amorim said.
“We should be frustrated with the way we started the game and the way we didn’t understand how we should play against 10 men. They deserved to win. We had a lot of chances in the second half through crosses and second balls, but the quality and decision-making wasn’t there. Everton were the better team.
“After the sending off, I was expecting us to have long periods of possession and to push the opponent. We didn’t control the transitions, even with 10 men. We were giving them big spaces to win second balls, so the understanding of every situation in the game was not there.
“The quality around the box is another big thing, but more importantly it was the intensity we showed. We cannot win games in this way.”