Everton's fine form continued on Saturday as they saw off Manchester United 3-1 at Goodison Park.
United miss the chance to go top as they come unstuck on Merseyside
Everton's fine form continued on Saturday as they saw off Manchester United 3-1 at Goodison Park.
The Toffees fell behind to a Dimitar Berbatov opener, but hit back almost immediately through Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.
David Moyes threw on Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell after the break as he went in search of a winner and the youngsters duly obliged as they sealed a memorable success for the Merseysiders with two late goals.
Everton started brightly in the winter sun, but it did not take the Red Devils long to find their stride and it was they who forged ahead inside 16 minutes.
Antonio Valencia, who caused all sorts of problems down the right, fired over a low cross which Sylvain Distin could only touch into the path of Berbatov.
The Bulgarian needed only one cushioned touch to set himself before rifling home off the underside of the crossbar.
Everton were shocked but drew level inside three minutes as Bilyaletdinov latched onto a loose ball 20 yards from goal and drilled past a motionless Edwin van der Sar.
The second half failed to match the first 45 for entertainment, but the Toffees will not be complaining as they sent the locals into dreamland with a late double.
Steven Pienaar drilled over a cross from the left after 76 minutes, Louis Saha missed his kick in the middle but Gosling was on hand behind him to steer the ball into the bottom corner.
The Toffees then put the seal on a well-earned victory in the final minute when Rodwell, with virtually his first touch, barged his way into the box and lashed across Van der Sar.
Spectacular
After flattening Chelsea with a sucker punch on their last league outing, Everton completed a spectacular one-two to leave United's title challenge on the ropes.
Just as they did against Carlo Ancelotti's men 10 days ago, David Moyes' team roared back from a goal down to register another famous win, which could have even greater consequences at the top given United are the ones playing catch-up.
For Wayne Rooney, Everton's first victory over United - excluding penalty shoot-outs - for five years, and only their second in 32 games, would have been particularly galling given his history, although for once, England's talisman failed to make much of an impact.
Unlike Rooney, the debate over Berbatov's value to United continues to rage.
At £30.75million, the Bulgarian cost them more than any other player.
Yet he has largely become a peripheral figure, to the extent that he was making his first away start since December when he strutted into proceedings.
The argument goes that Berbatov's languid style is not suited to United's all-action approach and with Ferguson preferring to use Wayne Rooney as a lone front-man, flanked by a couple of industrious wingers, the former Tottenham star frequently finds himself surplus to requirements, as he was in Milan this week.
Yet there is little doubt either that Berbatov is blessed with sublime skill.
And when Distin failed to cut out Valencia's low cross, he killed the ball with one touch before smashing it into the roof of Tim Howard's net.
Given the dominance United had enjoyed until that point, Everton desperately needed to score next.
That they did so inside three minutes was probably beyond Moyes' wildest dreams.
Launched
The goal had route one stamped all over it as Phil Neville launched the ball out
