Everton 0-2 Manchester United: Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard combine to cut Manchester City's lead at the top of the Premier League to 12 points

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At full-time there were clenched fists in the air from Paul Pogba and Marcos Rojo. That may have looked a little over the top after something as humdrum as a Premier League victory, but it served to indicate just how necessary this result was for Manchester United.

At United, a sticky run of results can escalate into a crisis very quickly and that was the road Jose Mourinho's team were travelling when they arrived on Merseyside.

Draws against Leicester, Burnley and Southampton meant failure to win here would have equalled United's worst return from a Christmas and New Year schedule.

Anthony Martial let fly with a right-footed effort from outside the Everton penalty area in the second half

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford did his best to get across but couldn't stop Martial's effort from beating him

Martial celebrates after scoring his seventh Premier League goal of the season on New Year's Day at Goodison Park

Paul Pogba, who supplied the assist for Martial's goal, celebrates United's opener with full back Luke Shaw

Lingard celebrates scoring United's second goal against Everton as Jose Mourinho's side sealed all three points

MATCH FACTS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE 

Everton: Pickford, Holgate, Keane, Williams, Martina, Davies, Schneiderlin, Vlasic, Rooney (McCarthy, 62), Bolasie (Lennon, 62), Niasse

Subs not used: Jagielka, Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin, Robles, Kenny

Booked: Rooney, Holgate 

Man Utd: de Gea, Lindelof, Jones, Rojo, Shaw, Ander Herrera, Matic, Mata (Tuanzebe, 90+2), Pogba, Lingard (Blind, 87), Martial (Rashford, 77)

Subs not used: Smalling, Romero, Mkhitaryan, Darmian

Goals: Martial 57, Lingard 81 

Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands) 

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Pogba's pass found Martial who fired past Pickford - see more of our Match Zone analysis by clicking here

 

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At times, especially in the first half, United were not convincing. They were passive and lacking in energy. They also looked low on confidence.

But against an Everton team who were ultimately very disappointing, United took a grip of the game in the second half and eventually won it with two goals of the highest quality. This is the thing about United. Even in these relatively fallow times, they have great young talent in their squad.

Here, Pogba was the game's best player, despite his apparent dislike of real tackling. The Frenchman's passing and vision were of a very high order.

And then there were the two goals; one from Anthony Martial and one from Jesse Lingard. Both were terrific and if they don't make Mourinho smile a little then one wonders if anything ever will.

Despite their lack of menace in the first half, United were much better once the second period started. For the first time in the game they had started to look threatening. 

Lingard scored after curling a fantastic effort past goalkeeper Pickford with less than 10 minutes to play

Pickford had no chance of saving the shot as it flew past him right in front of the travelling United supporters

Lingard raced over to the travelling United supporters in celebration as his goal made sure of the win against Everton

Pogba and Lingard then produced one of their trademark dances as United move into comfortable territory

Inevitably, Pogba was involved. Receiving the ball on the left, a few yards outside the penalty area, he had options on both sides and runners arriving. He was waiting for Martial, though, and when he flicked the ball across the top of the box into his team-mate's path, the United centre forward took a touch to control it before curling it with his right instep away from Jordan Pickford's dive and into the Everton keeper's top-left corner.

Pickford is a talented and improving young English goalkeeper and he had another good game here. There was little he could do about that goal, however, and maybe even less about the one that Lingard curled beyond him about 20 minutes later.

This time the danger arrived after Everton had a throw-in and the fact the home team lost possession almost immediately will have irritated Sam Allardyce hugely, given that his team had just been threatening to equalise during a 10-minute spell that was their best of the game.

Once again, though, there was so much to admire about the goal. Good United teams have always seized on opponents' mistakes clinically and here the players in red were all over Everton as soon as they won the ball by the left touchline.

Pogba gave his United shirt to one of the Everton stewards at the end of the game following the 2-0 victory

United midfielder Pogba speaks to referee Andre Marriner before he awarded Everton's Mason Holgate with a yellow card

Everton captain Wayne Rooney attempts a right-footed effort from distance but Ander Herrera was in a good position to block

United defender Marcos Rojo makes a fantastic last-ditch tackle to stop striker Oumar Niasse from advancing forward

United manager Jose Mourinho throws his arms up in the air after enduring a frustrating first-half display from his side

United defender Rojo drives forward out of his own half after the winning the ball back from Niasse at Goodison Park

Referee Andre Marriner awards a yellow card to Rooney after he caught United forward Anthony Martial with a late challenge

Lingard still had much to do when the ball was played through to him. The 25-year-old England star — a shining light amid the United gloom recently — was 35 yards from goal and had a defender, Michael Keane, in his way.

But Lingard eased past Keane as though he was not there and caressed the ball from under his feet with power and accuracy back into the same corner that Martial had found a little earlier.

One had to feel a little sorry for Pickford. Shots like this embarrass goalkeepers.

Lingard, meanwhile, is in such a rich vein of form that he believes he can score every time an opportunity presents itself.

He has scored seven times in his last nine games and it is the kind of run that will not have escaped the attention of Gareth Southgate in a World Cup year.

Over the course of the game, United deserved their victory. Missing a whole host of players through injury and suspension, they began the game looking rather vulnerable but were completely comfortable by the end.

That is to their credit, even if a better team than Everton would have taken advantage of their hesitancy early in the game. 

Rojo and fellow defender Phil Jones back off as Everton's Tom Davies fires a left-footed effort towards goal

Everton youngster Tom Davies just about manages to win the ball from United's Paul Pogba before conceding possession

Davies jumps over the top of Pogba as he attempts to win a header only for the Everton midfielder to lose out

Everton's Rooney was making his first appearance against Manchester United at Goodison Park since leaving the Red Devils

Everton were the better team in the opening stages. They moved the ball around brightly as United failed to press them and with a little more quality in attacking areas they might have found a way through to trouble David de Gea.

Ultimately, though, they finished the game without having a shot on target and that was telling. Everton were tepid in the second half and only roused themselves once United had taken the lead. The introduction of James McCarthy and Aaron Lennon as substitutes helped them and twice in a minute midway through the half they could have equalised.

The unmarked Oumar Niasse headed wide from Mason Holgate's cross and Tom Davies shot against a defender's legs when United found themselves in a penalty-box muddle almost immediately after. But for a team supposedly improving, Everton were a let-down.

Allardyce has never beaten Mourinho and has won only once in all his years against United.

At the outset, this looked like an opportunity to buck a trend. But United showed some stubbornness on Monday and Mourinho will feel it was long overdue.

Rooney tracks back to help his team out defensively as it looked as though Jesse Lingard had broken free

Rooney marks his former United team-mate Pogba during the first half of the game on New Year's Day

United left back Luke Shaw tries to block Nikola Vlasic as the Everton player attempts to get further forward up the pitch

Not long back from injury, Everton's Yannick Bolasie was using his pace to great effect against the United defenders

Everton boss Sam Allardyce watches on during the opening stages of Monday's match with Duncan Ferguson sat next to him

Everton assistant manager Sammy Lee gets a hug from Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho before kick-off

Both teams stood in the centre circle before the game to remember Evertonians who passed away over the last year