Everton's Djibril Sidibe vies for the ball with Manchester United's Luke Shaw, right, during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Manchester United at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England, Sunday, March 1, 2020 AP
Everton and Manchester United drew 1-1 at Goodison Park in the Premier League on Sunday in an enthralling game which ended with late VAR drama.
A superb 31st-minute strike from United midfielder Bruno Fernandes had replied to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s early opener and the Everton striker thought he had grabbed the three points in stoppage time with a low shot that deflected off Harry Maguire but his effort was ruled out by VAR.
Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson was lying on the floor, after having had his initial shot saved by David De Gea. After referee Chris Kavanagh had consulted with his linesman, VAR ruled out the goal for offside, given that Sigurdsson was in De Gea’s line of sight.
The decision infuriated Everton and their manager Carlo Ancelotti was handed a red card for his protests after the final whistle.
That last-gasp drama came moments after Everton keeper Jordan Pickford had produced a superb double save to keep out an initial Fernandes effort and then, with his feet, one from substitute Odion Ighalo.
A draw was a fair result however and leaves United in fifth place, three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, while Everton are 11th.
A dreadful error from De Gea gifted Everton a third-minute opener — the Spaniard dawdled on the ball after a pass-back from Maguire and his attempted clearance was charged down by Calvert-Lewin and flew off the Everton striker into the net.
Calvert-Lewin should have doubled the lead shortly afterwards when he broke free of the United defence but shot just wide of De Gea’s right-hand post.
United responded well to the early setback though with Nemanja Matic hitting the cross-bar with a long-range effort and then forcing Pickford into a diving save with another well-struck drive.
January signing Feranandes, the Portuguese midfielder who has brought some much-needed creativity to the United side, put the visitors level with a superb low shot from outside the box in the 31st minute.
Everton’s Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson hit the post with a curling free kick 12 minutes after the interval and the home side were the stronger during the second half as United struggled to maintain their excellent first-half performance.
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