MANCHESTER: Everton survived an astonishing moment of madness at Old Trafford on Monday when Idrissa Gueye was sent off for slapping team-mate Michael Keane to beat Manchester United 1-0.

Senegal midfielder Gueye was given his marching orders by referee Tony Harrington in the 13th minute after putting his hand to Keane’s face following an angry altercation.

The home crowd anticipated waves of attack but United failed to take advantage, proving toothless against David Moyes’ battling team.

Instead it was the 10-man visitors who seized the initiative, courtesy of a wonderful strike by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the 29th minute.

Dewsbury-Hall received the ball midway inside United’s half and surged towards goal, beating Bruno Fernandes and Leny Yoro before bending the ball into the top corner.

United, missing injured forwards Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha, huffed and puffed but could not find an equaliser despite 25 shots on goal to Everton’s three.

Goalscorer Dewsbury-Hall, addressing the red-card incident, said Gueye had apologised.

“It was just a moment of madness,” he told Sky Sports. “It was obviously avoidable. All I can say is Idrissa apologised to us all at half-time and said his piece.”

Former United boss Moyes, celebrating his first win at Old Trafford as a visiting manager at his 18th attempt, made light of his midfielder sending off.

“These things happen in football, I thought the referee could maybe have taken a little bit longer to think about it,” the manager said.

“I quite like my own players fighting each other and getting annoyed with each other because of a bad ball or someone didn’t do the right action. If you want a winning team, with the resilience and toughness that got us the result, then I think you’ve got to have players that are going to react in that way.”

Ruben Amorim, marking the first anniversary of his maiden game in charge of United, made several changes in the second half in a frantic search for an equaliser but his team still lacked a cutting edge despite dominating possession.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford kept out a powerful Joshua Zirkzee header with just over 10 minutes of normal time to go and Everton hung on for their first win at Old Trafford since 2013, with United booed off.

Earlier, the visitors suffered a big blow in just the 10th minute when they lost captain Seamus Coleman.

But worse was to follow three minutes later with the scarcely believable bust-up between Gueye and Keane.

Gueye is the first Premier League player to be sent off for fighting with a team-mate since 2008.

The Premier League Match Centre posted on X: “The referee’s call of red card to Gueye for violent conduct was checked and confirmed by VAR — with the action deemed to be a clear strike to the face of Keane.”

A bitterly disappointed Amorim, seeking his fifth straight win at home, said his team had lacked intensity.

“You can feel right away when we start the game in the first minute, we can feel when we are at the top level in intensity and when we are not,” he said.

“We cannot win games in this way.” He added: “I’m really frustrated with the way we played the game, especially in our home, especially understanding what happened during this week with the other clubs, looking at the table.”

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2025