Manchester United missed a great chance to increase their six-point cushion at the top and edge closer to the Premiership title as they failed to beat Newcastle in midweek, meaning they now have to beat Everton or risk losing their advantage over Chelsea and Arsenal.

After losing the FA Cup semi-final to City and sharing spoils with Newcastle, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men desperately need a morale-boosting victory, so this may not be the right time to be facing high-flying Everton.

Having failed to score in their last two games, the Red Devils will be looking to end the poor run as soon as possible and United are 1.57 (4/7) with Bet365 to score two or more goals.

Rio Ferdinand should return to the side after missing the Newcastle game, while Dimitar Berbatov is likely to be available as well.

Paul Scholes serves the last match of his two-game ban, whereas Fletcher, Hargreaves, Lindegaard and Rafael remain sidelined.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Van der Saar – O’Shea, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra – Anderson, Carrick – Valencia, Rooney, Nani – Hernandez.

Everton have had major problems this season and the Toffees have only recently showing what they are capable of.

Having taken 17 points from last 7 games, David Moyes’ side climbed to the seventh place in the standings and it is important to note that this excellent run of results was achieved without several key players.

The Toffees are now in a position to fight for the European places, meaning they will give their best to take at least one point from Old Trafford. Everton are 2.75 (7/4) with Paddy Power to extend their unbeaten run to eight league games.

Tim Cahill and John Heitinga are both major doubts for this clash, while Mikel Arteta, Jose Baxter, Marouane Fellaini and Louis Sada are definitely out.

Probable starting line-up (4-5-1): Howard – Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines – Coleman, Neville, Rodwell, Osman, Bilyaletdinov – Beckford.

Betfair has the best price on the market on home win, with Manchester United priced at 1.46 (23/50), whereas Everton are 8.60 (38/5) at world’s leading betting exchange to produce an upset and take all three points from Old Trafford.