United found a late, late winner here against Crystal Palace on Saturday, that was an exact repeat of their previous start at St James' Park, when Loïc Rémy (23-13-2) scored an injury time goal to see off Aston Villa.
 

The difference last weekend was that the winner came without the French striker on the pitch and that was a very rare occurrence, with United not only 0-1-5 without Rémy this season, but having not scored a goal in 540 minutes, which crept up to 635+ until Papiss Cisse forced the ball over the line as time expired.
 

Palace are favoured opponents of the Magpies and that probably helped in terms of belief that the goal would finally come, they might not be quite so confident against the highflying Toffees who have won on two of their last three visits here. Everton also won the reverse fixture 3-2, racing into a very early 3-0 lead , before stepping off the gas and allowing United to make the scoreline respectable, via goals from Rémy and Yohan Cabaye, who has since moved to PSG. We discussed how important the midfielder was immediately after his departure:

 

"United have sold Yohan Cabaye (19-7-3) to PSG they are 0-2-1 without him this season, two home draws and a heavy road defeat and were an eyepopping 2-1-9 without the Frenchman last season, the two wins came against relegated teams (QPR and Wigan) and on the road, they are 0-1-7 over the two campaigns when he has been missing, conceding at least two in each, at an average of over 3 per game ! I think we can say he will be missed ! To be fair to the Magpies, they started really well and should have had the game sewn up by the break, but City ended the stronger and were close to snatching all three points at the death, it remained honours even and that run is now up to just two wins in 16 starts without Cabaye."

 

They have finally learned to win without Cabaye, but the goals have hardly flowed in his absence and without Rémy too, who is injured again this evening, they lose so much creativity and offensive focus. They did score four at Hull City when we backed them recently, but the Tigers were "distracted" and United have just managed two in their other seven starts since Cabaye left.
 

Boss Alan Pardew is still suspended and banned from the stadium as well this evening, which means no assistance from him and despite a respectable 8th place in the EPL for United, 2014 has not gone well.
 

Dreams of a top 4 challenge have, if not entirely disappeared for the visitors, at least evaporated somewhat, but a first season post David Moyes has gone about as well as could have been expected and Everton will move back into 5th with a win this evening. That would also give them a potential six point edge over Manchesetr United, whom they would love to finish in front of and reduce the gap on Arsenal in 4th to just 5 points, or 8 with a game in hand, as the North Londoners host Swansea tonight.
 

Actually, the Gunners entertain Manchester City at the weekend and then go to Goodison the following week, so maybe that gap is not totally insurmountable.
 

In addition to Rémy, United are also without right back Mathieu Debuchy (25 apperances-1 goals -4 assists), as Davide Santon (25-0-0) remains sidelined, that means both starting full backs are out and only young and relatively inexperienced cover is available.
 

This is a bigger game for Everton in terms of what they can still achieve this season and one , given the team news, they really ought to win.

 

 

Good Luck.