{"id":500639,"date":"2026-02-24T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T09:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500639\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T09:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T09:00:09","slug":"talking-points-from-man-utd-first-game-at-hill-dickinson-stadium-v-everton-23-feb-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500639\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking points from Man Utd first game at Hill Dickinson Stadium v Everton | 23 Feb 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>EVERTON&#8217;S NEW SURROUNDINGS<\/p>\n<p>Our men&#8217;s team&#8217;s first visit to Everton\u2019s new manor, after they bid an emotional farewell to Goodison Park over the summer, coincided with the Merseysiders\u2019 biggest pre-match display at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Over 400 blue, white and yellow flags and banners were unfurled from the arena\u2019s steep South Stand as the players emerged from the tunnel, to a spine-tingling roar and the rousing sound of their traditional walkout track, the theme tune from former BBC drama series Z-Cars. It was notable then how the striking atmosphere reverberated around the four sides of the modern arena, and repeatedly as a battling contest unfolded. Everton\u2019s high energy and endeavour was appreciated by the home faithful, but it was the travelling contingent \u2013 who played their part in an atmospheric evening too \u2013 that were in full and jubilant voice as the final whistle sounded.<\/p>\n<p>WHAT THE WIN MEANS<\/p>\n<p>The result takes United back into the top four of the Premier League table, leapfrogging Chelsea who were held by Burnley on Saturday. Aston Villa also drew with Leeds over the weekend, meaning the gap to the third-placed Villans is down to three points, with 11 games to go. We&#8217;ve got the same bridge to fifth-placed Liverpool, after their stoppage-time winner to beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday, and we&#8217;ll hope to build on a position that is continuing to strengthen in the race for Champions League football when we return to action at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EVERTON&#8217;S NEW SURROUNDINGS Our men&#8217;s team&#8217;s first visit to Everton\u2019s new manor, after they bid an emotional farewell&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[251832,64,63,1379,46335,596,46332,44,7452,85,46336],"class_list":["post-500639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-2026_02_23_hill_dickinson_stadium_liverpool","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-features","tag-first-team","tag-football","tag-like","tag-news","tag-search","tag-sports","tag-united-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}