Louis van Gaal admits Manchester United is locked in a "rat race" for a place in next season's Champions League after a surprising 1-0 home defeat to West Brom allowed rival Liverpool to move to within four points.

United has now lost three consecutive league games for the first time in more than 13 years and failed to score over the same span for the first time since August 2007, a sequence that has seen van Gaal's team go four hours and 45 minutes without a goal.

"Maybe you remember all my press conferences when I said it will be a rat race until the very end," said van Gaal, whose side is fourth in the table.

"I was the only one because we were seven points ahead at the time.

"But I said it was still possible (being caught). I'm aware of that and my players shall be aware of that. It was unlucky but this is the third match in a row we lost and we didn't score.

"It's now in the hands of my players. We have to work very hard to keep their confidence up because we have everything in our own hands. We are four points ahead but our goal is a now a little bit more difficult than before.

"It's what you expected already before the game. They parked the bus and then it's always difficult to attack because you have a lot of bodies in front of you. But we have to improve. Improve in creating chances? No. Improve in finishing."

United enjoyed astonishing statistics of 80 percent possession and a 26-6 shot count but poor finishing, and a superb display by Albion goalkeeper Moaz Byhill, thwarted it.

"You can see that Everton (which beat United 3-0 last week) also had a very defensive organization against us and they were the home team; Chelsea at home had a very defensive organization against us," said the United manager.

"So while you expect teams to come here with defensive organization, they're also defending like that in our away matches. But we have to improve against that and that's the next step in our process."

Saturday's game-winning free kick, a Chris Brunt shot deflected in off teammate Jonas Olsson, handed Albion the lead but after 73 minutes Saido Berahino was harshly judged to have handled an Antonio Valencia cross in the area and referee Anthony Taylor awarded the home side a penalty.