Winners and losers as Man Utd bounce back with Ronaldo and Antony impressing

Cristiano Ronaldo struck his 700th club career goal as Manchester United ran out deserved winners over Everton with Antony also finding the net for the Red Devils

Manchester United recorded their fourth win from their last five Premier League matches (

Image: Getty Images)

Manchester United returned to winning ways in the Premier League by coming from behind to beat Everton 2-1 on Sunday evening.

The Red Devils fell behind in the opening stages as Alex Iwobi scored his first of the season with a wonderful solo strike. But Erik ten Hag’s side responded superbly to going a goal down and equalised shortly after when Antony continued his excellent scoring streak with a fine finish.

United took control of proceedings and took the lead just before half-time through that man Cristiano Ronaldo, who ran in behind before slotting home for his second of the campaign. Everton pushed for a leveller in the latter stages but Ten Hag’s men held on to move back up to fifth in the Premier League table.

Here are the winners and losers from Goodison Park.

Winners Cristiano Ronaldo

It has been a frustrating start to the season for Ronaldo, who has struggled for form and has subsequently dropped out of the Premier League XI since that 4-0 defeat Brentford. But the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was handed a chance to impress when he replaced the injured Anthony Martial on the half hour mark.

And he took that opportunity with both hands. The Portuguese superstar scored within 15 minutes of coming on as he ran onto a well-executed pass from Casemiro and took a couple of touches, before slotting the ball beyond Jordan Pickford for his 700th career club goal. It could prove to be a massive moment in Ronaldo’s United career, however, with the 37-year-old previously under pressure

Cristiano Ronaldo finishes off a fine Man Utd counter-attack (

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Getty Images) Antony

The Brazilian received some pretty harsh criticism from Paul Scholes following the Red Devils’ win at Omonia Niconsia, with the United legend calling Antony a “one trick pony”. But the 22-year-old responded finely to those comments by becoming the first United player to score in each of their first three Premier League appearances.

Martial played a neat disguised pass in behind to Antony, who opened up his body before curling the ball past Pickford and into the corner of the net. He proved to be a threat all evening with his pace in behind and Vitaly Mykolenko struggled with his electric speed and trickery as Antony impressed once again.

Antony slotted home his third goal of the season for Man Utd (

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Getty Images) Christian Eriksen

Although he didn’t provide a goal or an assist in United’s win over Everton, Eriksen ran the show in midfield and further demonstrated why Ten Hag decided to sign him in the summer. The Denmark international oozes quality and kept the game ticking as United controlled the game throughout the second-half.

There were a lot of question marks when Eriksen made the move to the Red Devils, but he is proving the doubters wrong and he fits the mould as a perfect ‘Ten Hag type’ player with his tactical intelligence. He could’ve added himself to the scoresheet but the 30-year-old missed a golden chance on 74 minutes, blazing over from just inside the box, but it didn’t shine away from a superb individual performance.

Losers Anthony Martial

Martial was handed his first start of the season after impressing from the bench against Manchester City and Omonia Nicosia, replacing Jadon Sancho in the starting XI. However, his evening ended early as the Frenchman was substituted after 29 minutes through injury. Martial had left the United warm-up early and walked down the tunnel with a potential hip injury, and he reaggravated the issue during the game.

He was replaced by Ronaldo, who went onto score and show Ten Hag why he should be in the side more often. Although Martial did provide the assist for Antony’s leveller, Ronaldo’s strike and his overall performance could dent Martial’s chances of playing more when he is back fit.

Jadon Sancho

After starting United’s first seven Premier League games, Sancho was dropped for their trip to Merseyside after struggling for form in recent weeks. This meant Marcus Rashford moved out to the left following his impressive cameo in Cyprus on Thursday, with Antony on the right and Martial through the middle before he was taken off.

Sancho has scored three goals in all competitions this season, but wasn’t at his best in the Manchester derby and in Nicosia, while Martial shone in both matches from the bench. Ten Hag’s decision to start him on the bench could be a sign that he prefers to use Rashford in that role, with a natural out and out striker up front.