Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney dropped to bench for Stoke clash

A third successive Premier League loss leaves United without a win in seven games with the future of van Gaal, who admitted afterwards he could “quit by myself”, now increasingly uncertain ahead of Monday’s clash against Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Losing 2-0 at Stoke on Boxing Day condemned United to a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions for the first time since 1961, and pushed the team down to sixth place.

The former Ajax manager then raised the possibility that he could walk away from the club.

“I try to do everything but the pressure shall be every match higher and higher and we have to solve that problem”, said Van Gaal, who has been in charge since July 2014.

On the latest defeat in the Potteries he accused his players of not being able to cope with the pressure they find themselves under.

It was a hapless first-half performance, and Van Gaal questioned why his players “don’t dare to play football”.

United was in disarray in the first half when Memphis Depay’s horrendous defending allowed Bojan Krkic to score and Marko Arnautovic powered in Stoke’s second goal from outside the penalty area. With this game plan it is better to pay with Ander Herrera instead of Wayne Rooney.

Delighted Stoke boss Mark Hughes praised keeper Jack Butland for a crucial save from Fellaini midway through the second half.

“I can also quit by myself, but that is something that I speak with Ed Woodward by himself, and not with you”, Van Gaal said in his post-match press conference.

“If you say I have failed you can say that but I don’t think like that”.

“We lost too many challenges, they were sharper than us, and we were a bit unlucky as well”, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

Christian Benteke’s second-half goal sealed the points at Anfield as Leicester suffered their first league defeat since September when they lost to Arsenal who could replace them at the top if they beat Southampton later.

Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony scored inside the first 22 minutes to put City in control, with Kevin De Bruyne adding a fourth before Fabio Borini replied for Sam Allardyce’s side.

A change of manager at Chelsea produced no quick-fix.

Guus Hiddink’s second spell as Chelsea’s interim manager began with a 2-2 draw at home to Watford.

Watford came from behind after conceding from Diego Costa’s volley to take the lead at Stamford Bridge.

Elsewhere, Crystal Palace rose one place to fifth after drawing 0-0 at Bournemouth.

At the bottom, Aston Villa drew 1-1 with West Ham United to leave manager Remi Garde still awaiting a first win since taking over from Tim Sherwood.

Swansea’s win dropped Newcastle United into the bottom three and they remained there as Tom Cleverley’s 93rd-minute header earned Everton a last-gasp 1-0 win at St James’ Park.