Everton beat woeful Manchester United

Everton eased their relegation fears with a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to Manchester United on Saturday.

Ralf Rangnick’s Red Devils were dreadful and deservedly lost to Frank Lampard’s men, who move four points clear of the drop zone but have now played a game more than rivals Burnley.

Marcus Rashford forced Jordan Pickford into a ninth-minute save after the ball fell to the forward from a free-kick, while Cristiano Ronaldo fired narrowly wide just after the resulting corner, though the offside flag was later raised.

Pickford was again on hand to deny Rashford moments later when the England international got between Michael Keane and Ben Godfrey to meet Bruno Fernandes’ cross, with the Everton goalkeeper getting down low to push his header away.

But Everton took the lead against the run of play after 27 minutes. Nemanja Matic was robbed cheaply of possession and the Toffees flooded forward in their numbers, with Anthony Gordon just overhitting a pass into the channels for Richarlison to chase, but the Brazilian managed to recover the ball nonetheless. He then picked out Alex Iwobi on the edge of the Man Utd area, flicking it back for Gordon to fire in off the shoulder of Harry Maguire.

While that deflection wrong-footed David de Gea, he got a strong hand to deny Richarlison’s strike which looped off of Victor Lindelof ten minutes later.

Fernandes’ searching ball forward just evaded the outstretched boot of Rashford as Man Utd gingerly attempted to mount a second-half comeback, while Lindelof denied a close-range shot from Gordon at the other end.

Referee Jon Moss dismissed Everton appeals for a penalty when Gordon went down under a challenge from Alex Telles, with VAR similarly dismissive of their protests.

Ronaldo, who contributed nothing to the second half, had a late strike deflected onto the arm of Pickford in stoppage time, and United fell to a disappointing loss that leaves them stranded in seventh place.