Manchester United suffer new injury blow in Liverpool and Chelsea battle as Michael Carrick makes 'slog' claim

Manchester United reopened a gap above Liverpool in the race for Champions League qualification.

The Red Devils earned a 1-0 victory over Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Benjamin Sesko scored the only goal in the 71st minute of the Premier League encounter.

It restored United’s three-point advantage over Liverpool, who are in sixth after their late 1-0 triumph at Nottingham Forest. With 11 fixtures remaining, the Reds Devils are favourites to finish fourth and make a return to the Champions League.

Michael Carrick’s side, who are unbeaten since the former midfielder took over as interim manager, were without key defender Lisandro Martinez against Everton, though. United face Crystal Palace on Sunday and Martinez could be a doubt once again

Carrick said: “Unfortunately he just picked up something during the week.

“It doesn’t seem too bad at all, but we’re just kind of working through that at the moment, so he’s not available. He’s obviously done well Licha, for us, and it’s disappointing. But Leny came in and did particularly well at West Ham so Leny comes in and we’ll try and move forward.”

On the victory over Everton, Carrick admitted: “It was [a slog], it was. It didn't really come easy for us. It's a tough [place]. I've come to Everton for a long time and when we come over here it's always tough and so I've never had an easy game, I've never had a game where it's all clicked, I don't think, that I can remember.

So, we expected a tough one tonight. Listen, when we played our last game [13 days ago] is what it is, you know, but the lads have trained really well actually, and we came in looking and feeling good about the game. It just was one of those nights for us, we had to dig deep, it was a bit of a struggle at times, but sometimes they’re the best ones to win.”