Manchester United's solution to Rasmus Hojlund injury worked thanks to their best player

This was the kind of football match that will have been forgotten by Saturday afternoon. In fact, if you're reading this you probably already need reminding of the broad details.

On a weekend when a Manchester-Merseyside showdown has top billing in world football, it's hard to even describe this as the warm-p act, so far away was it from the quality that will be on show at Anfield. For Manchester United that won't really matter, the win, secured via two penalties, has at least got their Champions League hopes flickering once again.

Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford did the damage from 12 yards, after Alejandro Garnacho's fancy footwork drew fouls from Everton's defenders, but the tape of this game won't be used by Premier League executives seeking to sell their product to the world. It was a poor game.

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For United, it was another clean sheet, albeit one that owed plenty to a dreadful attacking performance from Everton. But going in the other direction, there were occasional signs of quality from Erik ten Hag's attacking triumvirate.

United relied on a moment of pure magic to score a goal at the Etihad last week. Rashford's stunning strike had an xG of 0.03, which tells you how likely – or unlikely – it was to end up in the back of the net. That was a difficult game to judge a new-look attack on, but there was the odd moment in the first half when they threatened on the break. They just failed to capitalise on them.

They needed to show much more intent to get on the front foot against a side battling the drop and although they were gifted control of the game, it was a better attacking display. Had United been more clinical after