Everton beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Monday, an event that would have been momentous enough on its own. But the match itself featured plenty of intrigue outside of the final scoreline.
The win was Everton's first away to United since a 1-0 win in December 2013 while David Moyes was in charge of the Red Devils. That one featured a single goal from then-Everton youngster Anthony Gordon.
Monday's win had a single goal as well, this one a screamer from midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, although that moment came after one of the more bizarre incidents you'll ever see in a football match.
In the 12th minute, United nearly took advantage of a series of blunders from Everton's defense, including center back Michael Keane and midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye. The Blues survived when Bruno Fernandes' missed to the left of the goal, but Gana was not done with his teammate.
The two launched into an argument that led to some shoving and eventually a strike by Gana near the neck of his teammate. The Senegal international, who is already due to miss a string of matches with AFCON on the horizon, was shown a straight red card by the referee Tony Harrington and had to be escorted off the pitch, absolutely fuming, by Jordan Pickford and Iliman Ndiaye.
Everton were down to ten men, but the incident shook both sides, and the ensuing play was sloppy from both the Red Devils and the Toffees.
But Dewsbury-Hall's wonderstrike came less than 15 minutes later, and Everton began to batten down the hatches, which led to a 1-0 halftime lead.
United manager Ruben Amorim made a halftime substitution to shake things up, but the second half, although featuring plenty of possession (76%), passing (297), and shots (17, four on goal), didn't look much better from the home side. They did trouble Pickford into four saves, but outside of that, created very little for having so much of the ball.
In the end, despite being down a man, it's hard to argue that Everton were not the better, more composed side for most of the match, the red card situation notwithstanding.
The Blues' backline, especially James Tarkowski, Michael Keane, and Vitalii Mykolenko, were excellent, and Dewsbury-Hall ran his tail off in a true Man of the Match performance.
Everton rise to 11th in the Premier League table with the win, even on both points and goal difference with United. The Blues will host Newcastle United on Saturday, while United travel to Crystal Palace on Sunday.