LONDON, April 14: Gary Neville was Manchester United's unlikely match-winner as they struggled to beat lowly Leicester City 1-0 and edge closer to second-placed Chelsea in the Premier League on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old defender, who has only scored five times after more than a decade at United, drilled the ball home from close range early in the second half at Old Trafford after a defensive mix-up.

United remained third with 68 points, with Chelsea on 71 and leaders Arsenal on 78. Alex Ferguson's side, however, have six matches left to Chelsea's five. Leicester remained one off the bottom.

Tuesday's other match between Leeds United, also stuck in the relegation zone, and Everton ended 1-1. Manchester United, without the injured Roy Keane, lacked any fire early on and almost gifted the visitors the lead in the second minute when keeper Roy Caroll cleared a back pass from John O'Shea straight to Muzzy Izzet inside the box.

The Leicester midfielder was so surprised, however, that he dragged his shot wide when it looked easier to score. The home side's best early chance came after 16 minutes when Louis Saha chested down a neat chip from Neville but then, the hard work done, blasted well wide.

The game finally came to life on 56 minutes. Ronaldo, unmarked on the left, dragged a weak shot across goal only for the ball to bounce off defender Nikos Dabizas and pop up invitingly for Neville to fire the ball low into the net.

The England international's last Premier League goal was against Aston Villa in January, 2001. At Elland Road Wayne Rooney put Everton in front after 13 minutes with a right-foot shot from around 20 metres and they held on to that lead after keeper Nigel Martyn denied Alan Smith with two fine saves just before the break.

James Milner equalised, however, five minutes into the second half with another long-range shot. Third-from-bottom Leeds have 32 points from 33 games, four points ahead of Leicester and two behind Portsmouth, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City. -Reuters