Michael Carrick insisted that his Manchester United players would not get carried away following a strong start to his stewardship in the Premier League. 

Carrick steered United to four consecutive league victories following Ruben Amorim's departure last month, catapulting the Red Devils up to fourth in the table.

However, United needed a 96th-minute equaliser from Benjamin Sesko to snatch a late point away to West Ham last time out, having fallen behind to Tomas Soucek's goal. 

But ahead of a trip to Everton on Monday, Carrick said that his players had not viewed the draw at London Stadium as a step backwards.

"We've got to be a bit balanced in terms of not getting carried away before that [West Ham] game in terms of winning games, and certainly not getting carried away if we don't come away with the three points," Carrick said.

"There's an understanding that games are tough to win in this league, and it's been proven, not just for us.

"A lot of the performance in terms of the control and how we went about the game was there. There were a lot of good things in the game.

"It probably got open towards the end when we were chasing it a little bit more, but we looked dangerous.

"And scoring a late goal is a big positive, so I think it's an important point for us. Yeah, of course, we wanted to win the game, but certainly we're not thinking that it was all bad, or it's a big negative."

Everton, meanwhile, saw their five-game unbeaten league run come to an end after they were beaten 2-1 by Bournemouth at home on February 10. 

David Moyes' side have failed to win in front of their home supporters since a 3-0 triumph over Nottingham Forest in December, but the Toffees are still in the top half.

This clash with United kickstarts a run of important games for Everton, who also take on Newcastle United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Brentford in the coming weeks. 

And Moyes said that if his team want to secure a spot in Europe next season, then they must put in strong performances against the sides around them. 

"I think the big thing that I wanted us to do at Everton was to make us competitive with the so-called big teams at the top of the league," Moyes said. 

"And I think we have tried to do that. We haven't won all the games, but we have been competitive.

"We are not a team planning to fight relegation, we are a team trying to plan to challenge the teams in Europe and, to do that, we have to win some big games."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Everton – Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall

Dewsbury-Hall scored Everton's winner against the Red Devils in the reverse fixture earlier this season, and he will hope to have another telling contribution here. 

The last English player to score in both of the Toffees' league meetings against United in a campaign was Andy King in 1978-79.

Manchester United – Bruno Fernandes

United captain Fernandes has been involved in 10 goals in his last nine away Premier League appearances (two goals, eight assists).

His eight away assists this season are the joint most by a Red Devils player in a single campaign, along with Ryan Giggs in 2001-02.

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

Following their 1-0 win at Old Trafford in November, Everton are looking to complete just their second Premier League double over United after 2013-14, with current boss Moyes in charge of the Red Devils in those games.

However, the Toffees have struggled at Hill Dickinson Stadium of late. Indeed, Everton have lost five of their last nine Premier League home games (W2 D2), as many as they had in their previous 28 (W12 D11).

Everton have also failed to fire in the final third, with their average of just 3.3 shots on target per game in the Premier League their second-lowest on record (since 1997-98) in a single campaign, after 2017-18 (3.2).

United, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last nine Premier League games (W5 D4), their longest run without defeat since a 14-game streak between January and May 2021.

They have also enjoyed their trips to the Blue half of Merseyside. The Red Devils have more away wins (19) and more wins overall (42) against Everton than any team has against another in Premier League history.

And, unlike their opponents, United have had more shots than any other side in the top flight this season (417), with this their highest shots-per-game average (16) since 2011-12 (17). The last time they topped the shots charts at the end of a season was back in 2007-08.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Everton – 37.1%

Draw – 26.3%

Manchester United – 36.6%