Bulgarian international Dimitar Berbatov scored for Manchester United in his return in the team's starting eleven. The opener for United came in the 16th minute from the edge of the small box, but United failed, in the end, to obtain anything out of their visit to Goodison Park.

The hosts were back in the fray of things only two minutes later when Diniyar Bilyaletdinov levelled it for the Blues. From that point on, Everton never really appeared like a team that was going to lose on the afternoon of February 20 2010.

Berbatov, who started the game amid recent media criticism in the UK questioning his contribution to the team, displayed a strong performance until the 65th minute when manager Alex Ferguson had him subbed for veteran Paul Scholes.

But ever since Everton returned the favour in the 18th minute and went level, the visitors struggled to organise themselves in the middle of the park and their surges forward were easily dealt with by the Blues defenders. Thus, the Toffess assured themselves another major scalp after having beaten Chelsea at Goodison Park previously as well.

The hosts made two crucial substitutions that turned the game on its head and denied the defending champions any hope of a point. One of them, Dan Gosling, slid in Steven Pienaar's cross with about quarter of an hour left before full time, while the young substitute Jack Rodwell made it three with a solo effort in the dying seconds of the match.

Another three points in the bag for the Blues and their current strong form has taken them up to eighth position in the English Premiership.

Manchester United, with 27 matches played, are second with four points behind league leaders Chelsea who beat Wolverhampton 2-0 away. Third are Arsenal with 55 points from 27 games while Everton have 38 points, trailing four behind seventh-placed Aston Villa who also have a game in hand.