United opened well and enjoyed the bulk of the possession but the visitors steadily eased their way back into the fray.
Genuine chances for both teams were scarce in the first half but that altered after the interval with goalmouth activity going up several notches.
This contest, played under cloudy blue skies and a watery sun in Carrington, could be best described as an upper middle-of-the-table clash. Before kick-off, United were in sixth place with nine points from four games, and Everton were one spot higher than their hosts, having harvested ten points from six outings.
Based on those statistics it didn’t take an expert pundit to work out that this fixture against the team from the blue half of Liverpool could turn out to be a tight affair.