Everton grabbed a potentially valuable victory in their battle to avoid relegation by defeating a lackluster Manchester United at Goodison Park.
Frank Lampard’s team slipped deeper into crisis when they lost to fellow strugglers Burnley in midweek, leaving them with the danger of dropping into the bottom three this weekend if things went against them.
Everton’s victory came courtesy of Anthony Gordon’s 27th-minute strike, which took a huge deflection from United captain Harry Maguire and caught goalie David de Gea off guard.
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made two crucial early stops from Marcus Rashford and a crucial late block from Cristiano Ronaldo, but there was rarely a sense of siege as United lacked urgency, failing to break through in another blow to their Premier League top-four chances.