After what seemed an age without Premier League football during yet another international break (thankfully the last of the year), we've had hardly enough time to gather our thoughts after the tumultuous events and fantastic result at Old Trafford, yet Everton are in action again on Saturday, against Newcastle Utd.
This could be a humdinger of a game against The Skunks... or it could be a dead squib. I'm not one for making predictions but some ingredients are already in the pot and warming nicely in anticipation of Eddie Howe's team rocking up at the Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time.
They could be feeling somewhat aggrieved about the way last season ended, with Charly Alcaraz producing an excellent header to win a tense game at their place on the last day of the season.
Alcaraz could actually get a rare start as David Moyes must shuffle the pack and, while Tyler Dibling might be expected to fill in for Gana the Slapper, it seems that a serious reluctance to use the youngster who was recently lauded by Moyes for his close skills and ability in training will continue because he apparently doesn't do enough to support the defence.
However, the more natural like-for-like replacement is Tim Iroegbunam, who has made only one start in the last eight games but has been pretty solid when called upon as a usually late sub in a handful of those games.
The Coleman experiment sadly fizzled out, with that third game in 10 days a step too far for the ageing Everton captain who had given his all for his country, and just couldn't do it for his club.
But Coleman became part of the reason why Moyes had to use all five of his retinue of substitutes — for only the second time this season. And four of those were as usual made very late in the game, with less than 10 minutes left of normal time. But such is the Moyes way, and he will not be swayed.
Jordan Pickford came up huge on Monday in the few instances where Manchester United came close to scoring, and he also played a blinder in that game against Newcastle which turned out to be such a great way to end the season with the fans singing his name.
The erratic moments that used to frustrate fans seem to have been eradicated, with brain specialists claiming in a new report that we don't really grow out of adolescence until we are 32, and he would seem to be a prime example! Nick Pope was for a while pushing him hard (or the pundits were pushing him!) but Pickford seems to have fought off all comers for the England shirt, with Thomas Tuchel no doubt suitably impressed.
I've decided not to think too much about Thierno Barry and his continued goal drought. But the moment that Beto came on and fell over the ball at Old Trafford suggests that we do need to persist with the new centre-forward in place of the old, that extraordinary 5-goal purple patch he went through back in February now a distant and fading memory.
But we had a great goal from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on Monday... and for one fleeting moment it seemed that Jack Grealish might just pull the trigger in similiar fashion. But no. Why oh why doesn't he shoot more often?
And of course it means a return to Everton for Anthony Gordon, who appears to have recovered from a hip problem that caused him to miss the last two Premier League games but he played 72 minutes against Marseille yesterday.
The game kicks off at 5:30 pm GMT on Saturday 29 November 2025, and will feature on Sky Sports from 5 pm.
Our normal matchday coverage will be provided, with the Live Forum attracting more than 1,300 comments on Monday after the IT folks ironed out a few of the remaining technical challenges. We will continue to work on improvements to the website as the transition to a new design platform continues.
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