After Shakhtar Donetsk's surprisingly meek capitulation in Europe all David Moyes needs for Christmas is a little comfort and joy in the league, and if he checks the fixture list he ought to be able to find it. Manchester United have four winnable games between now and the end of the year, and if they can pick up nine points or more from the available 12 they could be back in the top six by the halfway stage of the season, possibly going into 2014 with renewed hope and looking to draw a line under 2013 as a year of transition.

Yes, that does sound a tad optimistic, though it is not meant to be flippant. Moyes complained at the start of the season that United's opening fixtures seemed unusually demanding, and the bonus for getting some tough games out of the way early is that easier ones are bound to follow. Of course it is valid to point out that the United, who sank to a first home defeat to Newcastle in 41 years on Saturday without managing a legitimate effort on target in the half hour after their visitors had taken the lead, might not find any Premier League opponents particularly easy at the moment.

Gary Neville has just observed that United seem to accept their fate with a whimper whereas in his day they would have been restaging the battle of Little Bighorn with the opposition goal as George Custer, and he makes a perfectly good point. But that does not alter the fact that United's last four games of the year are demonstrably more straightforward than those faced by the current top four in the Premier League. The current top four happen to be Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City, and each of those sides must play another top-four opponent not once but twice before the turn of the year.

Arsenal's next two games, for instance, are away to Manchester City and at home to Chelsea, and given that they are away to Newcastle on 29 December those who feel that have hardly played anyone yet will have to shut up if they are still five points clear on New Year's Day.

Similarly, Liverpool's present elevated position could be put into perspective after visits to Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea in the space of a couple of weeks, all without Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge, while City themselves could make useful progress in what is left of this month if they can keep up their home form and improve just a little on their travels. Manuel Pellegrini's side have Arsenal and Liverpool at the Etihad, interspersed with trips to lowly opponents in Fulham and Crystal Palace.

While all this traditional pre-Christmas carnage is taking place and top sides are inevitably taking points from each other, Manchester United have away trips to Aston Villa, Hull and Norwich to deal with (Moyes might appreciate being away from the nervousness building up inside Old Trafford for a while) and a home match on 21 December against West Ham.

All those four opponents currently occupy positions in the lower half of the Premier League table, and while it would obviously be a mistake to assume that just because of that United will get an easy ride at places such as Villa Park and Carrow Road, it seems fairly safe to suspect that had Moyes been handed those four fixtures as an opening programme he would not have been moaning to the authorities about the toughness of his start. Roberto Martínez, Moyes's successor at Everton, is the only top-six manager without a game against any of his immediate rivals in December, though Southampton are eighth at the moment and for his own reasons Martínez will not be particularly relishing a trip back to Swansea.

So disregard what you may have heard or read so far about Manchester United being in crisis or terminal decline. They have four matches to salvage some self-respect and possibly save their season. The last two unexpected home defeats in the league may have left them closer to the relegation positions than the top of the table, but there is no need to fret right now. The time to worry properly will be if United still find themselves adrift in mid-table on 1 January. If they remain out of the big picture, then serious questions will have to be asked about Moyes's stewardship and leadership, because Villa, West Ham, Hull and Norwich are not the sort of names to have worried Everton overmuch, let alone United.

Yet as Moyes will have worked out for himself in the past few months, in the context of an Everton season, a defeat at Villa or Norwich would not have created a crisis. It would at Manchester United, or at least it would now. Even Sir Alex Ferguson's United occasionally lost in unexpected places – Burnley, Fulham and Wolverhampton spring to mind – though as long as the underlying form was good and the season's prizes were still in reach the odd lapse could easily be tolerated.

The present United have managed to misplace much of that trust and confidence. Everton and Newcastle are both pretty good teams at present – it seemed faintly ridiculous to drive home from the last league defeat being told via the radio that United have had their time in the sun and must prepare for the sort of long winter that the previously all-conquering Liverpool are still enduring – but there was a telling moment in his post-match press conference when Moyes said "wins breed confidence" and then shut up. Presumably because he did not wish to contemplate what defeats breed. He will soon find out, unless he can find a way to end the sequence.

Confidence is surely what United need, and one imagines Wayne Rooney's return will help in that department, as will Robin van Persie operating at full fitness. For if United cannot manage a single shot on target in the final half hour of a home game that they are only losing 1-0, it cannot really be the fault of a new manager or a period of transition. Moyes would not be asking them to play like that, and neither can it simply be because Rooney was missing. United are either in the throes of a confidence crisis or an identity crisis. They seem to have forgotten who they are and what they do. The next four games should help them remember.