Manchester United 2-1 Everton - De Gea saves three points for United

David De Gea was magnificant against Everton

David De Gea pulled off a couple of late wonder saves to ensure that Louis van Gaal's men would take home all three points on Sunday lunchtime.

Manchester United beat Everton 2-1 in a match that provided plenty of thrills and spills for even neutral fans to enjoy.

Both United and Everton had important points to prove today, United keen to start building some sort of momentum and Everton needing a spark from somewhere after losing their swagger over the summer.

The two teams started brightly, sacrificing defensive solidity for attacking prowess, but United looked by far the more threatening of the sides. Despite Everton keeping hold of the ball well, they failed consistently to threaten David de Gea, whilst Tim Howard was forced to stay alert in the Toffees goal.

Howard's first involvement came after a diving header from Radamel Falcao. The American 'keeper dived down low to make the save.

Minutes later, Juan Mata had the perfect opportunity to hit the target with a shot on the volley from a looping cross played into the box, but indecision thwarted the opportunity, Leighton Baines subsequently nipping in to hack the ball clear.

To their credit, United kept pushing and probing and soon grabbed the opening goal of the game. Up until that point, Angel Di Maria had been relatively quiet and not quite as influential as usual, but he made no mistake taking advantage of a neat pass from Mata before steering the ball expertly past the helpless outstretched arm of Howard.

With United in the ascendancy, they almost doubled their lead just moments later, Di Maria forcing Howard into action from a deflected free kick.

For the next 10 minutes or so it looked like United were all set to stroll their way to half time, but Luke Shaw had other ideas. The defender brought down Tony Hibbert in the box and the referee immediately pointed towards the spot.

Baines, a man with an almost impeccable penalty record, stepped up to strike the ball from his usual wide angle, but this time made De Gea's job easy, passing the ball into an entirely savable position.

When the match resumed in the second half, Everton seemed to have far more purpose and urgency about them. Steven Naismith was switched from a wide position to a more central role and it soon paid dividends.

He received a great cross from Baines from the left and superbly flicked the ball past De Gea with his forehead.

It almost got worse for United moments later as conceding that goal put a few of the inexperienced players in red on edge. Falcao, of all people, was forced into making a goal line clearance, and that intervention handed United renewed impetus.

Ironically, it was the same player to make a mark at the other end minutes later, Falcao finally opening his scoring account for the Red Devils with a looping shot over the body of Howard.

Di Maria provided the assist for that goal to mark yet another solid display in a United shirt, although it looked as if the Argentine was intending to strike at goal rather than cross.

The final 15 minutes were a frantic affair, with Everton shooting sometimes out of nowhere at goal in a bid to grab an equaliser and a few world-class saves from De Gea were responsible for keeping them in the lead. Perhaps the pick of the bunch came when Bryan Oviedo smashed an effort towards the top corner, forcing De Gea to dive and use his full reach to keep the scoreline the same.

United looked mightily relieved at the final whistle and will use today's win to try to build some sort of momentum as they look towards a fairly quiet October as preparation for a hectic winter period.

As for Everton, they will be left to reflect on another poor result amid a woeful start to the new campaign.