United held at Goodison

United had dominated the first half and led through Darren Fletcher's strike, although they could have been several goals in front.

But Everton came out after the break with a fresh desire, and claimed their point thanks to the Belgian midfielder's 63rd-minute header.

United found space with ease during the opening stages. Dimitar Berbatov may seem to show an economy of effort, but his clever link-up play kept United moving forward with menace.

Everton did have a couple of decent half-chances early on, firstly when Fellaini took a pass from Joleon Lescott and saw a shot on the turn blocked by Nemanja Vidic. From the corner by Mikel Arteta, Belgian midfielder Fellaini headed just over.

Darren Fletcher had a header from a Ryan Giggs corner deflected wide, and Neville blocked a drive from Cristiano Ronaldo as United examined the Everton defence. Wayne Rooney then blasted wide after a free-kick had been blocked.

A goal from the champions had been on the cards for a while when Fletcher broke the deadlock after 22 minutes. Giggs' astute angled ball into the box by-passed a static Fellaini to allow Fletcher a run into space where he evaded Lescott, before calmly placing his shot wide of Tim Howard.

Phil Neville enraged his former United colleagues with a nasty lunge on Ronaldo during a feisty second period. Boot connected with knee and the Everton captain was booked when the uproar had died down.

Everton then got their lifeline, having barely troubled Edwin Van der Sar previously. After 63 minutes Neville crossed from the right and Fellaini rose above Vidic to head the equaliser. A minute later Yakubu harassed Ferdinand, stole the ball and ran into the box to see Edwin van der Sar touch his shot onto the right post.

Meanwhile, Rooney's chances of scoring the 100th goal of his career back at his former club were ended after 71 minutes when he was replaced by Nani. And despite a late rally which saw United chase a winner -it wasn't to be.