HE’S beaten them at Goodison and thwarted them in their own back yard, but now David Moyes faces the most obstinate task of his Everton managerial career.

It’s that time of year again when he must try and put over 20 years of demoralising history and achieve a lesser-spotted victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Last season it was that awe-inspring 4-4 thriller, and at least his team are still showing those resilient come-back qualities after they clawed back to 3-3 against Aston Villa last Saturday.

But Moyes is, as ever, under no illusions about the size of the task facing his men on Sunday.

“We've got closer to them in individual games but not in the terms of an overall season because they seem to be knocking out wins left, right and centre,” he says.

“The gulf between us, who think we're having a good season, and what they're doing is massive, but possibly in a one off game I don't think we're too far away from them.

“I'm constantly trying to achieve things and if we could win at Old Trafford that would be one of them. It's been a hard place to go over the years and I didn't know the record stretched back that long, but the last two games we've done OK against them.

“They could look back and say but hey before that we've had 10 or 15 years when we've done OK against Everton. But most teams would have that sort of situation with Old Trafford.

“We need to try and not concede the goals to give ourselves the chance, but that's what happens at Man United.

“They're capable of scoring. But we beat them 1-0 at home recently and we were able to do a job then were we kept them out but managed to get a goal.

“It's a hard ask but we haven't lost many games this season so we'll go there with that in mind. We know we've been hard to beat so Man United will have to consider that themselves.”

With his side’s attacking play attracting various plaudits so far this season, Moyes takes comfort in the fact that he has the creative players, such as Kevin Mirallas and Steven Pienaar, to cause United problems.

“We've got a little more now than we've had in the past, and we're able to play better than we have in the past,” he says.

“That maybe showed last years when we fight and gave them a game. Hopefully if the moments arise we'll be able to go and do that again.

“Last season we’d been in good form going into the game but then had the FA cup semi final against Liverpool. Other wise though we’d been playing well so maybe in a way we threw off the shackles a little bit and that helped get us the result.

“If I could have swapped it I would have done it the other way round through because I wanted to get to the final of the cup.”

Moyes’ counterpart in the dugout tomorrow has various prospects to juggle.

He will be keen to avoid another banana skin at home against the Toffees, but must also consider how to preserve his key men for the task of a mid week clash against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Moyes admits that adds an element of doubt to the opposition line-up his men will face, but one thing which is certain will be that renowned United winning mentality.

“We're not too sure what team we'll face,” says Moyes. “He has got Madrid in mid week, so undoubtedly with the way he manages he'll be looking at the bigger picture and seeing where and when he can rest his players and keep them fresh.

“He maybe thinks that he might have enough gap in the league but maybe the result between Man City and Southampton might have an impact on what he does.

“They've just given themselves a real ability to go and win. Maybe they keep their really big performances for when they need them.

“They can win other games in third gear but step it up when they need to. At that club there's an expectation that they have to win as well.”