With a 3-1 victory over Everton, Marcus Rashford scored his fifth goal in as many games and assisted on two more, advancing Manchester United into the FA Cup’s fourth round.
Conor Coady, who scored the equalizer for Everton, converted a pass into his own goal in the second half after Rashford had set up Antony’s early goal.
Then, in stoppage time, after Ben Godfrey fouled Alejandro Garnacho, Rashford continued his streak of goals by forcing Jordan Pickford’s save.
For the first time since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer served as interim manager in 2019, United achieved seven straight victories in all competitions despite not being particularly brutal and being thankful to have a potential Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalizer disallowed for a tenuous offside ruling.
With the pressure mounting on Frank Lampard following Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to Brighton, Everton found solace in an improved performance. They are now 18th in the Premier League.
In a strong lineup for his first FA Cup appearance, Erik ten Hag chose Luke Shaw at center back, leaving Lisandro Martinez, who hasn’t played since Argentina’s World Cup group stage match against Mexico on November 26, on the bench with Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof.
After the horror show of Tuesday night, Lampard reverted to the 3-5-2 system used to frustrate Manchester City last weekend, while Neal Maupay replaced Calvert-Lewin in attack.
Good morning to everyone but especially @MarcusRashford ☕️ pic.twitter.com/K9GJx7zxBo
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 7, 2023
The 9,000 travelling Everton fans arrived in Manchester still fuming over their latest capitulation, the first chant of ‘sack the board’ coming 15 minutes before kick-off, and their mood did not improve as United snatched the lead just four minutes in thanks to more dismal defending.
Anthony Martial and Rashford combined well to allow the England man to roll in a low cross from the left, but Antony was almost ignored as he raced clear to poke in at the far post.
Everton, devoid of confidence, gifted United further chances through careless passing. Martial flashed a shot wide after a lazy Pickford clearance, while Antony should have been in again soon after but failed to capitalise.
However, Everton remarkably equalised 14 minutes in. Amadou Onana shrugged Casemiro aside to collect the ball inside the United box and found the run of Maupay. His low cross should have been routine for David De Gea, but the goalkeeper inexplicably let it bobble between his legs before Coady stabbed it in.
United tried to reassert their authority but Pickford was out smartly to deny Martial, who then saw another shot blocked by James Tarkowski, and United’s early threat seemed to ebb.
Everton were hit by injury a minute into the second half as Alex Iwobi seemed to turn his ankle when tackled by Tyrell Malacia, leaving the pitch on a stretcher with his hands covering his face. Despite the long delay, replacement Abdoulaye Doucoure was somehow still tying his boot laces as play resumed.
And it got worse for the visitors moments later as Rashford cut in from the left and drove into the Everton box, beating Seamus Coleman to send in a low ball which Coady turned into his own net.
United fans, expecting their side to finish the job comfortably, chanted ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ at Lampard – but Everton were not done yet.
Doucoure’s charge into the box was halted by Raphael Varane but the ball rolled to Coleman, who forced De Gea to parry a dangerous cross before Vitalii Mykalenko’s effort was blocked.
Everton thought they had levelled in the 73rd minute when substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin chested in Gray’s cross from point-blank range, but VAR intervened to rule it offside.
United’s third came in added time as substitute Garnacho raced at goal, drawing the foul from Godfrey and allowing Rashford to send Pickford the wrong way from the spot and keep his goalscoring run going.