Manchester United beats Everton 3-1 to advance in FA Cup

Everton’s English midfielder Ben Godfrey (R) tackles Manchester United’s English striker Marcus Rashford during the English FA Cup third round football match between Manchester United and Everton at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on January 6, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Marcus Rashford scored his fifth goal in as many games after creating two others to help Manchester United beat Everton 3-1 and reach the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday.

Rashford set up Antony’s early opener and saw a second-half cross turned into his own net by Conor Coady, scorer of Everton’s equalizer.

Then, in stoppage time, Rashford kept his scoring run going by sending Jordan Pickford the wrong way from the penalty spot after Ben Godfrey fouled Alejandro Garnacho.

United was hardly ruthless, grateful to see a potential Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalizer ruled out for a tight offside call. But United did enough to make it seven straight wins in all competitions for the first time since 2019 when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in caretaker charge.

For Everton, there was consolation in a better performance after losing to Brighton 4-1 midweek left it 18th in the Premier League, the pressure firmly on manager Frank Lampard.

Erik ten Hag named a strong side for his first taste of the FA Cup, but notably selected Luke Shaw at center back while Lisandro Martinez — without a start since Argentina’s World Cup group game against Mexico on Nov. 26 — joined Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof on the bench.

After the horror show of Tuesday night, Lampard reverted to the 3-5-2 system used to frustrate Manchester City last weekend.

The 9,000 travelling Everton fans arrived in Manchester still fuming over the latest capitulation, the first chant of “Sack the board” coming 15 minutes before kickoff. Their mood did not improve much.