Man United Loses 3-1 to Everton in English Premier League - 02-22-10

February 22 - On the Weekend all 20 English Premier League football teams got in a game and while most of the results echoed the current league standings, probably the most surprising result of all was when league number 2 team, Manchester United, went down 3-1 to league number 8 team, Everton.

On Saturday the teeth of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United's manager, must have taken a beating as the worried manager chewed his way through what was surely a family pack of minty gum, as he watched his beloved team lose to a team that on paper Man Utd should have dispatched and destroyed.

It seems that what Fergie was not counting on the sheer power of pre-game speech delivered to Everton by the team's respected manager David Moyes, which reportedly rivalled even the biggest tear-jerker of a speech delivered the following evening in London at the annual Bafta Awards. But I digress.

In his speech, Moyes told the Everton players that 'the time had come to throw off the shackles of 18 years of oppression', referring to Everton's almost predictable and much-loathed ability to lose to Manchester United as routinely as Pavlov's dog responded to the ringing of his master's little sterling silver bell.

But the speech must have hit a nerve or at least home, because the Everton players that ran out onto the pitch that day to face the mighty Red Devils, resembled less a team of arrogant, overpaid footballers, as a group of gladiators finally ready to take on and destroy their biggest opponents in a bloody battle.

And a bloody battle it turned out to be - metaphorically speaking, of course - as in front of their home crowd, Everton proceeded to outplay, outflank, out defend and outscore Man United. And at the final whistle, the Red Devils slinked off the field as if they had failed a test they knew they did not study for.

Said Moyes following the great victory, 'We were without Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill, but we had to give the others a feeling that we were going to get about them. It was not about what Manchester United were doing, it was because of where we are mentally. It was the right time for us to shine bright.'

Manchester United's bruised and deflated frame of mind after the epic defeat was summed up by French left-back, Patrice Evra: 'We lost the game mentally. ‘We did not have the spirit of winners today. We did not believe enough.' As for Sir Alex Ferguson, he is reportedly out stocking up on more gum.

Here are the complete English Premier League Football results from Saturday, February 20 and Sunday, February 21, 2010:

Blackburn 3-0 Bolton
Aston Villa 5-2 Burnley
Fulham 2-1 Birmingham
Manchester City 0-0 Liverpool
Wigan Athletic 0-3 Tottenham
Everton 3-1 Man Utd
Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland
West Ham Utd 3-0 Hull City
Wolves 0-2 Chelsea
Portsmouth 1-2 Stoke City