Bruno Fernandes was at his very best at Goodison Park on Saturday when two goals from the Portuguese midfielder proved enough to win a vital three points for under-fire manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
In a match that both sides would have fancied their chances of winning, it was the hosts that opened the scoring when Bernard was given the opportunity to cut inside from the left wing and fire a shot into the bottom corner past an unsuspecting Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Yet Everton’s dominance over the game lasted just six minutes when Luke Shaw swung an uncontested cross into the box, only to then find the leaping head of Fernandes to knock home a powerful header from just a few yards out.
The 26-year-old playmaker then doubled his side’s lead seven minutes later when he attempted to pick out Marcus Rashford in the Everton box, only to then watch the United striker miss the cross entirely and see his cross bounce in off the back post.
Everton pushed hard for a late equaliser in the second half but the guests drew a line under the match late into stoppage time with a counter attack that allowed substitute Edinson Cavani to comfortably slot him his first goal for the club.
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Assist given by Bruno Fernandes.
Goal by Edinson Cavani.
Yellow card for Abdoulaye Doucouré.
Yellow card for Cenk Tosun.
Yellow card for Fred.
Substitute in, Paul Pogba.
Substitute in, Edinson Cavani.
Substitute out, Juan Mata.
Substitute out, Anthony Martial.
Substitute in, Cenk Tosun.
Substitute out, James Rodríguez.
Substitute in, Axel Tuanzebe.
Substitute out, Luke Shaw.
Substitute in, Alex Iwobi.
Substitute out, Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Yellow card for Bruno Fernandes.
Yellow card for Allan.
Yellow card for Mason Holgate.
Assist given by Marcus Rashford.
Goal by Bruno Fernandes.
Assist given by Luke Shaw.
Goal by Bruno Fernandes.
Goal by Bernard.