Manchester United will not be short of motivation for a derby clash with title-chasing Manchester City, says Ashley Young.

Ashley Young has promised Manchester United will deliver a response when they try to put a dent in Manchester City's Premier League title hopes this week.

United produced their worst performance of the season in a crushing 4-0 defeat at Everton on Sunday, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side having now lost six of their past eight games in all competitions.

They are two points outside the top four with four league games to go, but Wednesday's game at Old Trafford offers United the chance to hurt City's chances of defending their title while boosting their Champions League hopes.

Solskjaer and goalkeeper David de Gea apologised to United's supporters for the substandard display at Goodison Park – their fifth straight away defeat in all competitions – and Young followed suit as he vowed to make amends against City.

"We've just got to apologise to the fans and we've got a tough one coming up on Wednesday with the Manchester derby," Young told MUTV.

"We know how important that's going to be. If you can't get yourselves up for the Manchester derby, there's something wrong.

"I've got confidence that we're going to be ready for Wednesday. It's a disappointing day today [Sunday] but we've got to dust ourselves down fairly quickly and go again this week."

United host Chelsea next Sunday before their last two matches of the season against teams in the bottom three of the Premier League, away to already relegated Huddersfield Town and at home to Solskjaer's old side Cardiff City on the last day.

"It's four games, it's four winnable games," Young added. "If you'd said in October we would be in this position, we'd have taken it, but a club like Manchester United, we should be looking much further up the table.

"We've got four games left, we've got four wins to get. It's going to be tough but I'm sure we can do it. We were 4-0 down and [the fans] were still singing. They've been fantastic, and we've got to go and put a performance in on Wednesday."