Everton breathed life into their hopes of Premier League survival - and dented Manchester United's Champions League aspirations further - as Anthony Gordon's deflected strike secured a 1-0 home win at a raucous Goodison Park
Gordon's shot deflected off Harry Maguire's back (27) beyond David de Gea to provide the hosts with the slice of good fortune that has deserted them so often in this torrid campaign
United, who are close to appointing Erik ten Hag as their new manager, struggled to find their rhythm thereafter as the returning Cristiano Ronaldo's late booking for petulance typified another disjointed, lethargic display under interim boss Ralf Rangnick
He may have had the final say when he collected Maguire's header across goal in stoppage time but his instinctive shot was kept out by the excellent Jordan Pickford
After self-imploding at Burnley in midweek, Frank Lampard's side re-established a four-point gap on Burnley in the final relegation position ahead of the weekend's remaining games as United suffered another blow to their flickering hopes of a top-four finish
All five of Lampard's victories have come on home soil, and it is here at his famous old ground - at its most visceral, obstructive and unwelcoming on Saturday - where Everton's best hope of staving off a first relegation in 71 years reside
Lampard's future had been brought into question following Wednesday's 3-2 defeat at Burnley having lost eight of his opening 12 games in all competitions since he replaced Rafael Benitez at the end of January, when the club were 16th and four points above the relegation zone
The former Chelsea midfielder said he "knows the rules" regarding the short shelf life of a manager not picking up results and he was indebted to Pickford in the opening 12 minutes as Marcus Rashford twice forced the England goalkeeper into fine saves to his left
But for all of United's early pressure, it was the hosts who took the lead in the 27th minute with their first real sight at goal
A move down the left started by Allan and involving Richarlison was followed by the ball being cut back to the edge of the area by Alex Iwobi and Gordon's sidefoot effort took a deflection off Harry Maguire, wrongfooting David de Gea before rolling into the net
The goal roused the Everton players, as well as the crowd, as the momentum swung dramatically, with Michael Keane heading over while another deflected shot, this time from Richarlison, had to be tipped over by De Gea
Fred looked to be struggling and was withdrawn in the 37th minute as Paul Pogba was introduced
 Everton would see out the half, and Pogba's first contribution was to hack at Everton's goalscorer Gordon right in front of referee Jon Moss to be cautioned
Vitalii Mykolenko was wiped out by Aaron Wan-Bissaka but Moss played the advantage as Gordon's shot on the slide was crucially blocked by Victor Lindelof
 Juan Mata hadn't played a single minute in the Premier League, but Rangnick summoned him and Anthony Elanga in a double change shortly after the hour-mark
Everton had barely led at home for a sustained period of time since beating Leeds 3-0 on February 12 given Iwobi's winner against Newcastle came in the 97th minute - but here they were disciplined and picking their moments to sense a second with Gordon snapping into a challenge on Alex Telles but unable to pick out Richarlison with his low cross
Ben Godfrey and Michael Keane blocked, they headed, they kept their heads this time
Only once, right at the end did time stand still as Ronaldo collected Maguire's header back across goal for one last show of defiance from Pickford as he saved ice hockey-style, lifting up a big right glove
Goodison poured with emotion at the sound of the final whistle
 Never has the been sung from all corners with such gusto
Everton boss : "I'm very proud
 Pressure times
 The reality of the situation
 At Goodison we have been good
 We are getting clean sheets at home
 When we come together with fans and players we are hard to beat here
"It starts with us
 The crowd were great but they could switch off if they see people not working
 When you are not at your best you have to fight through it
 You might give a ball away but the only way to get that back is to fly in and make a tackle
"Beautiful football can come later on
 I have ambitions for this club to stay up, play well, but in the position we are in, fighting comes first and foremost
"We have missed Delph
 It goes unnoticed
 If we have one or two defensive midfielders out it's tough for us as we don't have that there
 He gave us a sense of calm
 He was great today
"It's one win
 We should have got a result in the week but didn't
 You have to keep going
 It's not easy when you wake up the next morning after Burnley
 My job first and foremost is to lift everyone
 They are a good bunch these players
"Manchester United boss : "If you don't score a single goal in 95 minutes we have to be disappointed
 We had a good start and should have created more chances out of that domination
 Then we concede a deflected shot and lost a bit of our composure
"The second half we were trying to add creativity with substitutions but we didn't always take the right decision
"We had to do something
 We needed a goal and we decided to bring Mata and more verticality with Elanga
 They were defending with their players in the last 35 minutes
 We didn't find the right player at the right moment
 We didn't have enough players in the box when we played crosses
""It's not only creativity
 I think we had enough creative players on the pitch
 It's also about being physical enough in the final third, being physical and trying to score a goal
 We didn't have enough players in the box
"On United's top-four hopes, he added: "It's difficult
 As long as we don't win our own games it doesn't make sense to hope for good results from the other teams
"Fred had some muscular problems on his hip flexor
 We already are without McTominay
 Without both defensive midfielders it isn't good for us
"The imminent announcement of Ten Hag could well be viewed as an unwanted distraction for Rangnick, but he said: "I don't think this should be an excuse
 We are Manchester United
 We have lots of international players
 There shouldn't be an alibi
 There will be a new manager next season
 If this is announced now or in 10 days it shouldn't have an impact
"This high-stakes clash was the polar opposite to the encounter between Liverpool and Manchester's other club this weekend
 Man City vs Liverpool represents a meeting of two of the game's greatest minds, a masterpiece between the league's title protagonists in a class of their own