Everton held by United after late goal ruled out by VAR
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.
Wily Wolves come from behind to beat Spurs 3-2
Wily striker Raul Jimenez struck a superb 73rd-minute winner as Wolverhampton Wanderers twice came back from a goal down to beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 and leap-frog them into sixth place in the Premier League table.
After losing 2-1 to Chelsea last week, Steven Bergwijn gave Jose Mourinho’s Spurs the lead in the 13th minute by slamming home a rebound to spare the blushes of Dele Ali, whose weak shot with the goal at his mercy was parried by Rui Patricio.
The visitors struck back 14 minutes later through Irish international Matt Doherty, who took advantage of some poor defending to score after Spurs failed to clear Ruben Vinagre’s cross.
Serge Aurier restored the lead just before halftime, collecting the ball just inside the box before curling a sublime left-foot shot inside the far post, but again Wolves came back as Diogo Jota scored from close range in the 57th minute.
With Spurs striker Ali spurning several decent chances, Jota then set up Jimenez for the winner, sliding the ball into his path in the 73rd minute for Jimenez to cut swiftly inside before curling a sweet left-foot strike into the net.
The win lifts Wolves into sixth spot with 42 points after 28 games, just behind Manchester United on goal difference, while Spurs slip to seventh, two points behind Wolves.
