Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick last time out, and Manchester United still sit two places below Everton
Everton have not lost a match yet and Manchester United have already been beaten by a promoted side. They meet at the Hill Dickinson Stadium at 6.30pm IST on Sunday.
Sep 6, 2026
Two clubs who have started the season in almost opposite moods meet at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday. Kick-off is 2pm in England, 6.30pm in India.
Everton have not been beaten in anything yet. Manchester United have been beaten already, at home to a promoted side, and then went and scored five. Working out which version turns up on Merseyside is most of the interest here.
Everton have conceded once in two league games
David Moyes, in his second spell at the club, has four points from two. Crystal Palace were beaten 2-0 at home on 22 August. A week later at the Vitality, Alex Scott put Bournemouth ahead just before half-time and Everton looked like losing until James Tarkowski forced the ball in from close range in the 91st minute. In between, they won 4-0 at Preston in the League Cup.
Three competitive matches, no defeats, one goal conceded in the league. That is a solid enough foundation, though it is worth saying Everton have not yet played anybody who is going to finish in the top six.
Jack Grealish is back for a second season on loan from Manchester City, agreed in the closing hours of the window. He was Everton’s best attacking player for long stretches of last season, and Moyes will want him on the ball early against a defence that has looked open.
United scored five and still look leaky
Michael Carrick’s first two league games have produced a 2-0 defeat at Hull, who had never beaten United in the Premier League before, and a 5-2 win over Ipswich at Old Trafford. Leif Davis put Ipswich in front in that one. Bruno Fernandes then scored in the 40th, from the penalty spot in the 61st, and again in the 68th.
It was Fernandes’ second hat-trick in the English top flight, and both have come in United’s first home league game of a season. The other was against Leeds in 2021-22.
Five goals in a game papers over a fair amount. United have conceded four in two matches, which is one more than Everton have scored in the league. Carlos Baleba, signed this summer, is not available until the middle of the month.
Carrick’s first full season
Carrick took the job permanently on 22 May, on a two-year contract, after arriving as an interim when Ruben Amorim was dismissed in January. He finished last season third, which is why he is still there. This is the first campaign he has planned himself, and two games in it has produced one of the worse results of the round and one of the better ones.
Everton sit 10th with four points. United are 12th with three. Neither position means much in the first week of September, but the gap between the two clubs is not what a United supporter would have drawn up in July.
The rest of the table is odd too
Manchester City lead with nine points from three. Hull, promoted in the summer, are second with seven and have not conceded a goal. At the other end, Coventry and Fulham have nothing from three games, and Tottenham and Aston Villa have not scored at all.
None of that will settle anything on Sunday. Everton have the better defensive record and the home crowd. United have the player who has scored three of their five goals. On balance the visitors probably have more in them going forward, but Moyes has spent a career making games like this uncomfortable, and Everton have not given much away yet.