Manchester United return to top four with 1-0 win at Everton thanks to Sesko goal – as it happened

Key events23 Feb 2026FULL-TIME: Everton 0-1 Manchester United23 Feb 2026GOAL! Everton 0-1 Manchester United (Sesko 72)23 Feb 2026HALF-TIME: Everton 0-0 Manchester United23 Feb 2026Teams!23 Feb 2026PreambleDaniel HarrisMon 23 Feb 2026 17.09 ESTFirst published on Mon 23 Feb 2026 14.00 ESTShareShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureKey events23 Feb 2026FULL-TIME: Everton 0-1 Manchester United23 Feb 2026GOAL! Everton 0-1 Manchester United (Sesko 72)23 Feb 2026HALF-TIME: Everton 0-0 Manchester United23 Feb 2026Teams!23 Feb 2026PreambleShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this feature23 Feb 202617.09 ESTAha, Andy Hunter’s report is with us, which means we’re done here.

Thanks all for your company and comments, sorry I couldn’t use them all. Have a good night and peace out.

23 Feb 202617.07 EST“If Manchester United are the fourth best team in the Premier League, after their shambles of a season,” says Justin Kavanagh, “I’m not sure what that says about the Premier League.”

As far as the Prem goes, I think it says there are a lot of teams who are capable of beating each other – that’s what kept United in touch. That and the quality of United’s attackers, who are proper. If you stick the right midfielder in for Casemiro, you’ll have a decent team, and you add a full-back or two you could really be talking. I’m amped to see how they fritter the opportunity.

23 Feb 202617.04 ESTCredit where it’s due, United absolutely nailed their summer signings. It blows my mind that initially, there were no plans to sign a keeper and, as I wrote at the time, I’d have signed a midfielder instead of one of the three attackers. But each of the players to arrive has made a huge difference, and I imagine we’ll be seeing many more Cunha-Mbeumo-Sesko goals.

23 Feb 202617.01 ESTEverton didn’t play badly tonight, but they struggled to create and badly need a reliable scorer. I’ve not a clue where one, never mind them, finds such a thing.

23 Feb 202616.59 ESTThat’s a really big win for United. Before the latest round of matches, they were a point ahead of Chelsea; now it’s three, the same number by which they lead Liverpool, who also won a tight, tough away game.

23 Feb 202616.57 ESTFULL-TIME: Everton 0-1 Manchester UnitedA huge win for United, who return to fourth place; Everton stay eighth.

23 Feb 202616.57 EST90+6 min Garner drifts a lovely ball into the box, no one can get a material touch on it, it falls behind foi a goalkick, and that will, I think, be the last action.

23 Feb 202616.56 EST90+5 min Bruno is booked for scything down Branthwaite.

23 Feb 202616.55 EST90+5 min Cunha wins a goalkick off Garner – those two have had a ding-dong – and celebrates by shouting in his face, as one would. He’s immediately replaced by Heaven, not before he gets himself into trouble, but it’s a fringe benefit.

23 Feb 202616.54 EST90+4 min George moves forward with the ball, no one engages so from 20 yards he shoots … and Lammens dives, collecting in front of his midriff having leapt expecting it to hit a corner.

23 Feb 202616.53 EST90+3 min Another chance for United to counter but Cunha makes a mess of his pass with two men over. No matter, Bruno gets it forward, Dalot puts the ball in the middle and here comes Sesko to finish a move that’s extremely similar to the one which brought his goal. This time, though, Pickford is out to him, palming away on the dive as the United man looks to round him.

23 Feb 202616.51 EST90+2 min United keep it in the corner and environs for a bit, then when Branthwaite wins it back and looks to break, Mazraoui brings him down and takes the inevitable yellow card.

23 Feb 202616.50 EST90+1 min We’ll have five additional minutes; United begin them by winning a corner, which they take short, wasting a minute or so.

23 Feb 202616.49 EST90 min “Re Bruno,” begins John Cox, “whether or not you’re a good player depends on only one thing, and that’s whether your team plays better with you in it. That tends to mean not standing around going full teapot when less gifted teammates misplace passes.”

Or does it mean being the best attacking midfielder, according to pretty much every metric, in the top-five leagues, even when playing deep? It’s a bit like it was with Roy Keane: people watching think his teammates must hate him, when the reality is the reverse.

23 Feb 202616.48 EST88 min United are sitting back, inviting pressure. Students of the Post-Fergie Wilderness YearsTM know this rarely ends well for them and, as I type, they concede another corner … again cleared, but the ball keeps coming back.

23 Feb 202616.46 EST87 min I’ve just chuckled to myself imagining Garnacho conceiving of, wanting to hit and executing the pass Cunha did for the goal.

23 Feb 202616.45 EST86 min Like now, but Casemiro glides a pass straight at Branthwaite, allowing Everton to spring, but when Ndiaye crosses, Lammens is there.

23 Feb 202616.44 EST85 min Yet another corner comes in and yet again, Lammens punches away firmly enough. It’s all Everton now, but United have possibilities on the break.

23 Feb 202616.44 EST84 min Before it’s taken, Tarkowski shoves Yoro into the net, both are booked, then the ball is sent into the melee, bodies wrestling everywhere, and somehow it goes behind.

23 Feb 202616.42 EST83 min More Everton pressure, then Keane picks up the ball 30 yards out, skipping into a donkey kick not dissimilar to the one he scored in the last seconds against Spurs the season before last … and Lammens dives to palm around the post.

23 Feb 202616.41 EST81 min “I love Carrick, I think he’s done a great job,” said Joshua Keeling before the goal. “But Amorim would have been hammered for this performance.”

A difference, though, is that Carrick sent on Sesko to try and find a goal, rather than an ouside centre-back for an outside centre-back. As it goes, United were starting to attack properly towards the end of Amorim’s time – though i think he earned the sack, had he not lost Fernandes, Sesko, Amad and Mbeumo at the same time, he’d probably have stayed in the job.

Updated at 16.41 EST23 Feb 202616.39 EST80 min It’s sent into the mixer, but United do enough and the ball goes behind for a goalkick.

23 Feb 202616.38 EST78 min Everton win another corner and though Lammens has dealt with them really well so far, it only takes one error or decent delivery and he’s in trouble. And Garner sends in a good ball, but it hits George and bounces away from goal. No matter: Everton win another one, then send on Beto for Iroegbunam, and there’s all sorts of ruckus going on inside the box.

23 Feb 202616.36 EST77 min Pickford is booked for mouthing about summat or other; United send on Mazraoui for Mbeumo, who’s limping; I think that means he goes to right-back, with Dalot on the … wing?

23 Feb 202616.35 EST76 min The highest praise I can give the goal is that as soon as Cunha executed the pass, you knew it was coming. When Sesko gets into stride, he takes some stopping, a basketballer’s physique with figure-skating feet.

23 Feb 202616.34 EST74 min Are we sure it’s Harrison Armstrong, not Armstrong Harrison?

23 Feb 202616.33 EST73 min Everton send on George for Armstrong.

23 Feb 202616.33 ESTGOAL! Everton 0-1 Manchester United (Sesko 72)The Solskjaer throwback continues! Maguire heads the corner away and, deep inside his own half, left-hand side, Cunha threads a disgracefully brilliant pass crossfield to Mbeumo … who 25 yards from goal, slips into the path of Sesko, and the finish, punched into the bottom-right, is as confident as it is competent.

Updated at 17.11 EST23 Feb 202616.31 EST71 min Everton are pressing, have a man over in Garner, and when the ball is slipped into his path, Cunha slides in to make a crucial block; corner.

23 Feb 202616.30 EST71 min Talking of whom, competence is exactly what United required in their goal. A simply dreadful keeper would’ve been a massive improvement, but he’s stopped pretty much everything he ought to have stopped, and made some much better saves too.

23 Feb 202616.29 EST69 min Everton win a corner and Armstrong shoves Fernandes, vexed about who knows what; they move on, then Garner swings in towards the back post. Tarkowski can’t get at it properly, his header going up in the air, but when it comes down, he finds a decent cross, gathered competently by Lammens.

23 Feb 202616.28 EST68 min “Cards on the table,” begoins Matt Dony. “Being a Liverpool fan, it’s not surprising I’m perfectly happy to stick the boot into United. And some players are just unlikeable to pretty much everyone apart from fans of the club they play for. (We had Suarez. We know of which we speak.) And yet, I find myself feeling genuinely bad for Fernandes. An extravagantly gifted footballer, who’s has spent his prime years surrounded by an absolute shambles. There have been some real nadirs for United over the last few years. But imagine how much worse it could have been without Bruno. I’d have a cob on, too.”

I agree. It blew my mind to see internets mavens (really: mevinim) dissing him as some kind of luxury wastrel. In a good team he’d be revered as one of th ebest players ever to play in England.

23 Feb 202616.26 EST66 min Now United counterr, Sesko finding Cunha who drives forward, waiting to supply a killer return and instead slipping. It’s that kind of game.

23 Feb 202616.24 EST66 min Again, Lammens comes for a corner, punching to the edge, where again, Gueye has a shot blocked.

23 Feb 202616.24 EST64 min Everton maintain pressure, Casemiro showing his arse and selling himself like he’s Virgil van Dijk, Dewsbury-Hall moving by him and shooting low, the effort deflected behind for a corner.

23 Feb 202616.22 EST63 min But Everton counter, Ndiaye dipping inside Mainoo and finding Gueye, who drills into the nearest shins as though doing so on purpose.

23 Feb 202616.21 EST61 min Cunha’s had enough, taking possession during another funereal sequence and driving infield, firing and following a pass that’s just the wrong side of Mbeumo. United, though, are back dominating possession and doing little with it.

23 Feb 202616.20 EST61 min United create a rondo situation, but a poor pass from Mainoo means they’re soo back in their own area, starting again.

23 Feb 202616.17 EST59 min “Regarding Carrick’s attire,” begins Paiul from Murcia, “at least it’s not every hoody or track suit top United can’t shift out of the Megastore like another manager we could mention.”

Come on, whatever else we say about Amorim, that man can rock some leisurewear.

23 Feb 202616.17 EST58 min Sesko is ready to come on, presuably for Amad … and yup, that’s what happens.

23 Feb 202616.16 EST57 min Under pressure from Mbeumo as Pickford smothers the ball, Tarkowski steps into Mbeumo, introducing shoulder to face. It looks a sair yin, but he’ll be fine.

23 Feb 202616.15 EST56 min Dalot stands on the ball and Armstrong finds Dewsbury-Hall, whose cross goes somewhere towards Bridgewater Hall.

23 Feb 202616.14 EST54 min Mainoo, though, is getting himself on the ball more often, which tends to mean United are playing better and, as I type, Casemiro lofts a lovely pass over the top and down the line for Dalot. Again, though, his timing is is excellent but finesse poor, side-footing a bouncing ball directly into Keane when he had options inside the box.

23 Feb 202616.12 EST53 min It’s end to end now, like two rugby teams playing basketball.