'I quite like my players fighting each other' – Moyes defends Gueye in Old Trafford victory
Idrissa Gueye was shown a red card when he struck team-mate Michael Keane in the face, but Everton still managed to win at Old Trafford.
David Moyes defended Idrissa Gueye after the midfielder was shown a red for striking Everton team-mate Michael Keane in the face during their 1-0 win over Manchester United.
Gueye was dismissed after 13 minutes at Old Trafford, but Kieran Dewsbury-Hall struck a brilliant winner before the break to seal the Toffees' first win at the stadium since 2013.
And Moyes' side dug deep following the goal; after Dewsbury-Hall scored at 28 minutes and 38 seconds, the Toffees failed to muster a single shot, while United managed 23, with six on target.
Gueye's dismissal, meanwhile, saw Everton pick up their 110th red card in the Premier League, the joint-most of any club along with Arsenal.
But Moyes was not annoyed by the emotions shown by his players, instead believing referee Tony Harrington could have avoided brandishing the red card.
"We don't see it very often. If nothing had happened afterwards, I don't think anybody in the stadium would've been surprised," Moyes told Sky Sports.
"I thought the referee could've maybe taken a bit longer to think about it. I've been told that if you slap your own player or if you leave an arm in, then you could be in some form of trouble, but there is another side to it.
"I quite like my players fighting each other and getting annoyed with each other.
"If you want a winning team, with the resilience and toughness that got us the result, then I think you've got to have players that are going to react in that way.
“I'm disappointed we got the sending off, but every player will tell you how angry they get with their team-mates.
"He has apologised in the dressing room for the sending off, praised the players endlessly for their performance tonight and thanked them for it."
This was the first time Everton had won a Premier League game, having had a player sent off in the first half since August 2006 against Tottenham.
Dewsbury-Hall's strike for Everton was his fifth goal in the Premier League but the first with his right foot, with his previous four coming via his left.
The former Chelsea player praised the reaction of his team-mates after they went a player down, and insisted they will move on from the altercation.
"It was just a moment of madness. It was obviously avoidable," Dewsbury-Hall told Sky Sports.
"All I can say is Idrissa apologised to us all at half-time and said his piece. That's all he can do, and we move on from it.
"The reaction from the lads after it was unbelievable, top tier. We could've easily crumbled, gone in on ourselves and lost the game comfortably, but it probably made us grow even more as a team."
