Man United suffer crushing loss at Everton to damage Champions League hopes

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:23 am

Manchester United's hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League took a huge blow as they suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat at Everton -- their sixth defeat in the last eight matches in all competitions.

First half goals from Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson set hosts on their was they dominated a below par United right from the off -- before a Lucas Digne stunner and Theo Walcott finish in the second half clinched all three points.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer opted to play central defender Victor Lindelof at right-back, and most of Everton's dangerous moments came down the left. Digne's throw-ins were causing all sorts of confusion -- and led to the opening goal.

The France international's delivery was flicked on by Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison got above Diogo Dalot to acrobatically fire into the roof of the net on 13 minutes.

Everton continued to threaten as United looked unable to cope with their opponents -- and it was 2-0 just before the half hour mark. The home side broke away from a United corner and Nemanja Matic stood off Sigurdsson, who fired a long-range effort into David De Gea's near post.

Manchester United's hopes of a top four finish suffered a huge blow at Everton.
Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

Marco Silva's men finished the half on top and Solskjaer made a double change at the interval as he brought Ashley Young and Scott McTominay on for Phil Jones and Fred.

But it did little to stem the flow of the game as Everton made it 3-0 on 55 minutes, despite losing Richarlison to injury just moments earlier.

De Gea could only clear a corner as far as the edge of the area, and Digne met the ball to volley a rocket past the Spain international, who didn't move.

Everton came close to getting a fourth when De Gea saved on the line directly from a corner, before second half substitute Walcott did make it 4-0 on 63 minutes as he broke free to slot past the goalkeeper.

The result leaves United two points off the top four with games against Manchester City and Chelsea coming up this week, while Everton move up to seventh.