Maitland-Niles stuns Manchester United with last-kick equaliser on Everton debut
Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored a 25-yard thunderbolt with virtually the final kick of the game to rescue a 2-2 draw for Everton against Manchester United on his debut — a result that preserved Everton's unbeaten start to the 2026-27 Premier League season.
Everton signed the 28-year-old from Arsenal for just £4.3 million in the summer transfer window. On this evidence, it may be the bargain of the year. With the clock ticking past 90 minutes and Hill Dickinson Stadium bracing for a home defeat, Maitland-Niles wrapped his foot around the ball from distance and sent it screaming past United goalkeeper Senne Lammens into the top corner. United manager Michael Carrick reacted in disbelief on the touchline. The Guardian
United had looked like leaving Merseyside with all three points after Benjamin Sesko's 88th-minute header beat Jordan Pickford and put the visitors 2-1 ahead. Bryan Mbeumo had given United the lead just 62 seconds into the second half, collecting a pass from Kobbie Mainoo and finishing calmly. Bruno Fernandes nearly added another, rattling the Everton crossbar from a Mbeumo knock-down.
The match had barely started when Harry Maguire emerged from an aerial challenge with Everton's Thierno Barry nursing a bloody nose — a bruising opening exchange that set the tone for a fiercely contested afternoon.
David Moyes, back in the Everton dugout, watched his side fight back from behind twice. The Toffees' unbeaten run under the Scot now stretches across the opening weeks of the new campaign, a source of renewed optimism around a club that has spent more time in recent years fighting relegation than chasing the top half.
On the pitch, there was an intriguing subplot at right-back. Merlin Röhl retained his place despite Maitland-Niles' arrival — the kind of selection decision that tells you a manager rates what he already has. Röhl is being eyed as a potential long-term solution in a position that has troubled Everton for seasons.
Off the pitch, the mood among supporters is far more complicated. The 1878s, Everton's prominent supporters' group, have withdrawn their backing for the foreseeable future. A "not a pound in the ground" protest is being organised against the club's owners, TFG (The Friedkin Group), whose day-to-day representative at Everton is Rishi Majithia — Dan Friedkin's son-in-law. Frustration with the ownership has been building, and results on the pitch are doing their best to paper over cracks that fans can clearly see.
For now, though, a debut goal in the dying seconds is the image that lingers. Four point three million pounds. One swing of the right boot. A point snatched from the jaws of defeat. Maitland-Niles could not have written a better first chapter.
