Arise King David

Manchester United 2 Everton 1

This was the match when David de Gea proved what everyone at Old Trafford had already known, the Spaniard is a world class keeper.

Another win and another three points. United have now moved up into the top four of the premier league, but this match had similar events to the last match at Old Trafford against West Ham United.

United took the lead through the outstanding Angel Di Maria after which they missed a hat-full of chances, then our opponents came back into the match but United held on to claim the victory. When will we win a match without ageing our supporters over the last half an hour?

We did learn a few important things from the victory over Everton. To start with United can cope quite well without our captain Wayne Rooney, with Mata performing admirably in the hole behind the strikers, Falcao can score goals, David de Gea is the best shot stopper in the world and lastly Louis van Gaal does put faith in the younger players.

This was a big match for United and after Everton had shamed us not once but twice last year it was also a match to put the record straight. For a match like this, as United are going through a teething process, you need big time players and boy did we get them with Di Maria, Falcao, Blind and Rafael all putting in outstanding performances.

Falcao benefited from the immense skill of Di Maria to score his first goal for United after missing so many chances beforehand, Daley Blind once again showed what a superb buy he has been by quietly getting on with his job in midfield to huge effect and Rafael didn't stop running all day and provided the much needed balance on the right hand side.

Di Maria celebrates another goal

But all their efforts were overshadowed by the world class performance by goalkeeper David de Gea.

He was brilliant between the sticks saving Baines' penalty on the stroke of half time then pulling off three stops from shots that were destined for the net. The last being a finger tip over the bar in the final minute. Sometimes keepers make saves that are as good as scoring goals and that was definitely the case in this match.

Honestly speaking without de Gea's heroics Everton would have left Old Trafford with at least a point. I hope Louis van Gaal pays him a well earned bonus. It was also pleasing to see Di Maria sportingly say that he was not the man of the match and accepting that de Gea had literally saved the day.

De Gea saves the penalty

After all the comments at the start of the season that van Gaal won't give his younger players a chance having spent millions on superstars, it was very pleasing to see him put his faith in Paddy McNair again by starting him at the back and being rewarded by another sterling performance by the 19 year old.

Also, Tyler Blackett and James Wilson were brought on as substitutes in the second half, with Blackett making a superb block when he threw his body in front of a goal bound shot in the last few minutes. By the end of the match we had a good mixture of experience and youth. Jones, Evans and especially Smalling must be slightly worried about their place in the team. Let's stick with what is working.

One question that has been raised is what is van Gaal's opinion of Adnan Januzaj? As once again he was on the bench and not even used as a substitute.

What must he be thinking?

Januzaj is banging in the goals for the under 21's but can't get a look in for the first team. I wonder how he felt seeing James Wilson replacing Radamel Falcao. Even his compatriot Fellaini got on the pitch ahead of him.

Next week there is no premier league action as there are the latest round of international matches, so we have a break which should enable the injured players have the time to recover for the big matches coming up, which includes the visit of Chelsea at the end of this month. Hopefully our international players will all come back injury free.

That's all for this week. We have a king in goal.

De Gea celebrating with the fans

Thanks for reading.

Miles Dunton.