LIVERPOOL, England — There was a moment, a few minutes into the second half, that encapsulated it all. Not just this game and these teams, but what the Premier League has been this season, and what it might become.

A Manchester United attack had just broken down, and Everton’s defense had cleared the ball. Phil Jones, United’s central defender, collected the ball deep inside his own half. Oumar Niasse, Everton’s hardworking forward, chased him down.

Jones hurried a pass to his teammate Marcos Rojo, whose touch was not entirely clean.

The boisterous Goodison Park crowd, scenting weakness, stirred. Niasse sprinted toward Rojo, but could not make it in time. The striker turned, expecting another blue shirt to bear down on Rojo and keep the pressure up. And then he stopped, exasperated. None of his teammates had even left their own half. Rojo strolled forward, unmolested, and United began to attack again.

A pattern has taken hold in the Premier League this season. This game was not the most egregious example of it in recent weeks — far from it — but there was nevertheless something eerily familiar about Manchester United’s visit to Everton: A sense that we had seen this game before, and that we would see it again, and again, in the weeks and months to come.