After two very creditable draws against Liverpool and Arsenal, Everton suffered defeat at Old Trafford thanks to a first half penalty from Ronaldo. The blues looked tired after their recent excertions and never really looked like getting on the score sheet - hopefully they were saving it for wednesday night's cup replay against the kopites.

The difficult run against Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United is almost at an end and few could argue that the blues haven't acquitted themselves well under the circumstances.

With a patched up team and no strikers, the team have done us proud so far and will surely go all out to end this run on a high by beating Liverpool under the Goodison floodlights on Wednesday night.

Liverpool 1-1 Everton
The cup game against Liverpool was another solid battling display but without Arteta we didn't pass the ball well at all. Liverpool had a lot of possession but the resilence and determination of the side was there for all to see. None epitomised it more than Phil Jagielka and Jolene Lescott, so it was great to see the latter put us 1-0 up from a corner. Other than that we had few chances and were looking for another clean sheet to see us through. Unfortunately the defence was undone by a but of skill from Torres and a rare error from Tim Howard as Gerrard's near post shot squirmed underneath him. But on this basis was there really anything to be worried about from Liverpool? We should fancy our chances in the second leg, especially with Arteta and Fellaini coming back in the side.

Tim Cahill was again left unmarked on the corner we scored from and we'll hope to exploit that in the replay. They're bound to address it this time around but Fellaini also has a knack of getting into great positions and we really need to exploit that as best we can.

Everton 1-1 Arsenal
We should have beaten Arsenal, no doubt about it. We were back to "full strength" here - with Arteta back in midfield and Fellaini and Cahill upfront. Still striker-less but in terms of the formation we've stumbled upon during this crisis, this is currently our best available line-up. It certainly showed as we played some excellent football. The rejuvenated Leighton Baines again did well getting forward (and defending) down the left hand side and linked up well with Pienaar. He created a couple of chances for Fellaini before putting a brilliant cross in at the Park End which Tim Cahill buried in the bottom corner. The Australian really is in great form and is so important to the club. Brilliant header, Goodison was rocking. We continued to pass the ball well but when Cahill limped off with five minutes to go, you sensed we'd be under pressure.

And so it proved. With Arsenal beginning to press, there were times where we could and should have held onto the ball better. Osman and Pienaar were both guilty of losing possession cheaply when we should have been getting the ball in the corner flag, but I can't argue with the goal that undid us. A brilliant finish out of almost nothing. A sickener for Everton when 3 points would have really been a great result in the race for Europe.

Manchester United 1-0 Everton
After those battling performances in which Moyes could barely make any changes to the team, we looked tired against United. A 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford isn't the end of the world but in truth we never troubled them and they seemed happy enough to take their foot off the pedal, seemingly confident enough that we couldn't trouble them too much at the back. We'll need to step up our energy levels against Liverpool on Wednesday if we're gonna get the better of them. Worryingly, Torres looks back in-form but the way Jagielka has performed he'll be confident enough that he can keep him quiet.

It'll be fast and furious and hopefully a great game. Let's just hope we can keep our heads, keep it tight and cause them enough problems. They won't fancy this game one bit so let's make it a night to remember.