Everton 2-2 Man United: a 96th-minute equaliser, again

Everton equalised against Manchester United six minutes into stoppage time on Sunday afternoon, through Ainsley Maitland-Niles, from outside the box, into the top left corner. It is the second consecutive week they have taken a point in the final seconds of a match.

It finished 2-2 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. United led twice — through Bryan Mbeumo a minute into the second half and through Benjamin Šeško on eighty-eight — and could not hold either lead for long.

Four goals in the last forty-five minutes

The first half produced nothing. Mbeumo opened the scoring on forty-six minutes with a left-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom left corner, assisted by Kobbie Mainoo.

Everton levelled on eighty-three through Tyrique George, right-footed from the right side of the box into the top right corner, assisted by Hayden Hackney. Šeško headed United back in front on eighty-eight from a Luke Shaw cross. Maitland-Niles equalised in the ninety-sixth.

Three goals in the last thirteen minutes of a match that had produced one in the first seventy-seven. Everton finished with eighteen shots and six on target; United had fourteen and three.

Everton keep doing this

A week earlier at Bournemouth, Everton had gone behind on forty-one minutes and equalised through James Tarkowski in the first minute of stoppage time. On Sunday they went behind twice and equalised in the ninety-sixth.

Two consecutive matches rescued after the ninetieth minute is a habit rather than a coincidence, and it has now been worth two points. Everton have five from three, are eighth, and have not lost a match.

The more interesting number is the shot count: eighteen attempts and six on target against a side with more of the ball. Everton have not dominated possession in any of their three matches and have scored five goals. Whatever else is true of them, they are dangerous without the ball, which is the most useful thing a mid-table side can be.

United led twice and drew, again

This is the third different Manchester United of the season. They lost 2-0 at Hull City without scoring. They beat Ipswich 5-2 with thirty-three shots and eleven on target. Here they had fourteen shots, three on target, scored twice and drew.

Four points from three matches, eleventh, with seven scored and six conceded. The volume from the Ipswich match did not travel: thirty-three attempts became fourteen, and eleven on target became three.

The two goals were well taken — Mbeumo from outside the box, Šeško with a header from a Shaw cross — and neither was the problem. Conceding on eighty-three and in the ninety-sixth having led twice is the problem, and it is a different one from the one they had at Hull.

Six substitutes’ worth of chaos

The scoring sequence deserves setting out on its own, because it is the most compressed finish of the season so far. Nothing for seventy-seven minutes after Mbeumo’s opener. Then George on eighty-three, Šeško on eighty-eight, and Maitland-Niles in the ninety-sixth.

Three goals in thirteen minutes, two of them from outside the box, one a header from a cross. Both of Everton’s came from players who were not among the names anybody would have listed before kick-off, and Maitland-Niles’ was struck from distance into the top corner at the very end of six added minutes.

United, for their part, had led for thirty-seven minutes across the match and finished with a point.

Everton have scored five goals and four of them are late

The pattern is now hard to ignore. Tarkowski equalised at Bournemouth in the ninety-first. George scored on eighty-three and Maitland-Niles in the ninety-sixth here. Everton have taken three points from stoppage-time and late goals in two matches.

That is either a sign of genuine fitness and persistence or a sign of a side that leaves it too late, and after three matches there is no way to tell which. What can be said is that they have not lost, and that both of the sides who have taken points off them had to survive until the final seconds to do it.

A point that means more to one of them

Everton go to five points and eighth, level with Liverpool, Newcastle, Brentford and Leeds. United go to four and eleventh, level with Brighton and Sunderland. One point separates fifth from twelfth after three rounds.

In that context a draw is not damaging for either. What it does is confirm two things that were already suspected: Everton will still be in a match at eighty-five minutes, and Manchester United do not yet have a level they can be relied upon to reach.

The Hill Dickinson Stadium has now seen a comfortable 2-0 win over Crystal Palace and a chaotic 2-2 against United. It is a small sample and a loud one, and the ground has not disappointed yet.

The Premier League simulator on this site runs the rest of the season from the real table with the real fixture list, if you want to know whether a habit of scoring in the ninety-sixth minute is worth anything by May.