Louis van Gaal and his Manchester United side need to discover a late-season improvement in form if they are to secure a top-four finish following a lacklustre 3-0 loss away to Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.
James McCarthy, John Stones, with his first-ever Everton goal, and Kevin Mirallas were on the mark for the Merseyside club in a fixture that marked the end of David Moyes's disastrous reign as United manager a little over a year ago.
Although the Reds have shown great improvement under his Dutch successor, consecutive defeats for United have left them fourth in the Premier League table, seven points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool but having played a game more, ensuring an anxious end to the campaign.
It would have been a mystery to van Gaal, given the amount of chances created by his team, how United found themselves trailing by two goals inside the opening 35 minutes.
The first Everton goal, after five minutes, was the culmination of a breathtaking counter-attack and some indecisive United defending as Juan Mata's ball into the home area was cleared by Gareth Barry.
Seamus Coleman broke upfield and his cross found McCarthy via a deflection off the legs of Paddy McNair who then compounded the error by failing to tackle the Everton midfielder.
Coleman maintained his balance and momentum impressively as he bore down on goal and slipped the ball past United keeper David de Gea.
And from the third of three consecutive corners, all taken by Leighton Baines, Everton -- who kicked-off 24 points adrift of United --  doubled their lead in the 35th minute to the delight of the home crowd when Stones's magnificent header flew past de Gea and into the net, despite an attempted goal-line clearance by Ashley Young.
- Wasteful United -
United should long since have been on at least level terms.
Marouane Fellaini, returning to his former club, dispossessed Barry within two minutes of the opening goal but fired a disappointing shot over the bar from 16 yards with no defender near him.
That set the tone for a half of wasteful football from the visitors.
Ander Herrera’s lay-off was directed straight at Tim Howard by Daley Blind, the Everton goalkeeper saved bravely at former Toffees favourite Wayne Rooney’s feet and then saw Chris Smalling plant an unmarked set-piece header straight at him.
And, just before Everton doubled their lead, Young also curled an effort over from a promising position.
Everton's second goal seemed to deflate the visitors and United manager van Gaal took action at half-time, removing Fellaini, who had been cautioned in the first half, and bringing on striker Radamel Falcao.
Rooney was presented with an immediate chance to reduce arrears, from Smalling’s header at a corner, but was denied from close-range by Howard’s reflex save.
Falcao, ploughing a lone furrow up front with Rooney now playing behind him, was finding few openings although his fellow substitute Angel di Maria did chip forward a neat lobbed pass after 70 minutes for the Colombian to head into the arms of Howard.
The miss proved academic just four minutes later, however, when Everton -- who climbed to 10th place with this win -- scored their third goal .
Romelu Lukaku laid the ball off for Barkley whose pass forward would have found his team-mate in an offside position had he not intelligently left the ball, freeing Mirallas to run ahead of the static United defence and bury a controlled finish past de Gea.
Mirallas might have heaped even more pain on United five minutes from time but his magnificent 22-yard shot was tipped, acrobatically, over the bar by de Gea.

Source: AFP