Premier League - United close in on title

Eurosport - Mon, 11 May 09:14:00 2009

Manchester United continued their march towards the Premier League title with a comfortable 2-0 win over local rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Manchester United Carlos Tevez - 0

The holders now need just four points from their final three games - against Wigan, Arsenal and Hull City - to retain the trophy for a third consecutive year.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez did the damage for the hosts, both netting before half-time to settle the 140th league derby between the two old enemies - and ensure United fans can hold their heads high in the city over the summer months.

But more important than mere bragging rights was the result, which saw United reclaim top spot by going three points clear of Liverpool with a further game in hand.

Ronaldo, who was furious at his later substitution, opened the scoring with a trademark free-kick on 19 minutes before Tevez made it two in the final minute of the first half.

Tevez dominated pre-match talk, the Argentinian having reportedly resigned himself to a summer exit from Old Trafford, but he was preferred, alongside Dimitar Berbatov, to Wayne Rooney, who started on the bench.

An unchanged City side held their own in terms of possession during the opening exchanges but with Felipe Caicedo playing a lone striker's role - albeit supported by a midfield trident of Robinho, Stephen Ireland and Elano - forays into United's penalty area were limited.

United's back line, again marshalled impeccably by Nemanja Vidic, were able to keep the visitors at bay and Edwin van der Sar in the United goal enjoyed a relatively comfortable afternoon.

The Dutchman's opposite number Shay Given had no such luck. Park Ji-Sung had already signalled United's intentions with a dragged shot wide of the mark on three minutes before City's number one was forced into action to keep out a speculative Tevez effort.

Like Tevez, Ronaldo was also in the mood and the Portuguese got the better of Micah Richards soon after to cut inside and fire goalwards. Again Given had to be alert to keep the score goalless.

But there was nothing the Irishman could do on 18 minutes as Ronaldo stepped up to take a free-kick, 30 yards out, after Ireland had been penalised for a challenge on the breaking Berbatov.

Ronaldo let fly with a typically powerful shot, but it was a slight deflection off Vincent Kompany in the City wall that ended up outfoxing Given; the keeper was wrong-footed by the touch and failed to recover as the ball flew into the bottom corner.

The goal gave United even more confidence to go forward in search of a second, and Tevez very nearly did on 31 minutes, the Argentine's brilliant curling effort thundering back off the upright with Given well-beaten.

Tevez was not to be denied though, and just before the half-time break, he doubled United's lead with a similar effort, this time the ball cannoning into the back of the net after having rattled the frame of the goal.

At two-nil up, the champions looked in complete control, although Robinho wasted a great chance to get City back into the game soon after the break.

The Brazilian, who along with Elano worked hard all afternoon, was played in on goal by his compatriot but could only slice his shot into the stands behind the United goal.

Van der Sar was finally called into action in the 86th minute, substitute Martin Petrov testing the Dutchman to his limit with a fine strike from 20 yards, but otherwise, City disappointed as an attacking force.

At the other end, Tevez could easily have registered a double in the dying moments, but his point-blank header from the excellent Darren Fletcher's flick-on struck an upright.

In the end, he had to settle for just the one. Still, that was enough to delight the home crowd, who urged Alex Ferguson to end the speculation and sign him on a permanent basis throughout the 90 minutes.

With the season drawing to a close, United fans, and Tevez himself, will not have to wait long for a conclusion to the saga.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

Comment 355 - 374 of 374

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  1. BERBA is better than tevez!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From tzennera, on Tue 12 May 8:22PM

  2. mirianzidane you are pathetic.... you know nothing­ about Manchester City.... you probably don't even­ live in this country...@#$%.

    From Chris W, on Tue 12 May 1:58PM

  3. up your arse dazmanutd

    From kellz_86, on Tue 12 May 5:26AM
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    TEVES IS HOT, and also playing illegally in this­ country. Rules that forced West Ham to court ,and­ subsequent fine, appear to have been forgotten because­ Man united are not having any problems with the­ "THIRD PARTY OWNERSHIP" problems......

    THE­ FA ARE IN MAN UNITED'S POCKET..........

    FOOTBALL­ IS NOT A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD......

    MONEY TALKS,­ FAIRNESS WALKS................

    ENJOY YOUR­ "ENTERTAINMENT", BECAUSE IT CERTAINLY ISNT­ "SPORT"

    From ghettovest, on Mon 11 May 11:10AM

  5. i wonder who Benitez will be calling upon to help him­ stop UNITED from winning the title for the eleventh­ time.MAN CITY failed him. so maybe he should contract­ WIGAN and HULL.i have a feeling that sir ALEX will pop­ the champagne after the ARSENAL game.

    From james, on Mon 11 May 10:32AM

  6. I´m gonna say something that might upset a few Utd fans­ here but bear with me. A few weeks ago when we went­ through the little sticky patch Fulham, Liverpool and­ Everton I and probably any genuinley honest fan would­ have said that not only are Liverpool are the form­ team, but the way they were playing were probably the­ best in the league. The fact that their form hasn´t­ really dipped (Take aside the two 4-4 draws against the­ only other 2 title contenders one of which was a credit­ to them), but Utd seem to have hit form again and thus­ pretty much seeing off this years title race­ (Hopefully). It´s now that Liverpool will be looking to­ next year and here´s my point - The last time I­ reckoned Liverpool were probably as good as any other­ team and infact the form team at the end of the season,­ was the year they won their so-called treble. The year­ they beat Alvaes in the UEFA cup, they also that year,­ beat Utd at O.T. late on, and put a formidable end of­ season run in. The following season they were so awful­ it was laughable. I actually read a comment by one of­ their fans the other week saying they'd be a better­ team without Gerrard. After thinking about it that­ might not seem so ludicrous.....Bryan Robson­ anybody?
    The point is it's alright looking the­ part, talking up your history about being so sucessful­ in the past and being the most sucessful club in­ Britain, but this year we're gonna equal your­ league titles, touch wood we'll be one away from­ the European cup haul, and you never seem to want to­ mention the FA cup! It is, as I was so often reminded­ in the early 80's about consistency. We've got­ it, you ain't....Glory Glory Man Utd, as the Reds­ Go Marching on!

    From p t, on Mon 11 May 10:15AM

  7. all the scousers who are slagging city off after­ pinning there hopes and dreams on them are pathetic do­ you hear us slagging off the rollover hammers who you­ beat .no cos were not sad and hope other teams win it­ for us we win it ourselves so theres another empty­ season for you bindippers how does rafa get away with­ it and i bet torres and gerrard dont believe your good­ enough to really challenge us so it could be bye bye­ torres and gerrard if you @#$% it up again next season­ which you will do and we wont give you 6 points again­ as we only wanted to make it interesting for the fans­ and dash your dreams every week ha ha its been good fun­ doing it see you on the 27th may when we win the­ european champions league again ha ha ha i love­ scouserbaiting i hope it never happens to us united­ fans ha ha ha ha

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Mon 11 May 9:36AM

  8. all the scousers who predict our downfall when fergie­ finally gives up the glory are seriusley deluded the­ team he leaves will still be there and the next manager­ is probably already been told he is the next one in­ line for glory and trophies now i dont know who that­ manager is but it wont be some chump thats for sure it­ will be someone who is a winner as that is what we are­ so keep dreaming of our downfall cos it aint gonna­ happen and we will still be there to hoover up the­ trophies i would personally like to see mourhino but im­ sure whoever it is will carry on winning us trophies­ just like the great sir alex ferguson

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Mon 11 May 9:19AM

  9. 4 out of 9 left (only 3 games to everyone else's­ 2).

    From Colonel K, on Mon 11 May 9:05AM

  10. foeyp: Another 19 years? 38 in total? See you in­ 2028.

    From Colonel K, on Mon 11 May 9:03AM

  11. man city made the game borin it dint even seem lyk a­ derby man city suck sooo bad

    From sikand_aditya, on Mon 11 May 9:02AM

  12. dazmanutd: Yeah spotted that mate, told the gimp in no­ uncertain terms that Ashworth is where he belongs... ­ Wanted to make sure mugpgits knew the score too.

    From Colonel K, on Mon 11 May 9:02AM

  13. Boys boys let's not get excited yet. We still need­ four points out of twelve. Keep the champagne in the­ chiller yet , if you are old enough to drink it. The­ match was never one of those derbies like the past. Man­ City just failed to turn up and as an entertainment it­ was never going to get a ten out of ten.

    From cokrowinoto, on Mon 11 May 9:01AM

  14. Liverpool may of made progress this season but next­ season that will mean nothing. After all Arsenal looked­ like winning it for most of last season ended up with­ nothing and have been worse this season!

    From james b, on Mon 11 May 8:52AM

  15. gi5 did i not tell you what is happening the minute the­ cat is out of the bag up pops jimmyrice wayneand­ dazmanutdarefags id there complete and utter morons­ mate with nothing better to do what losers and sad­ lives they must leave keep playing boys we will still­ win the league you wankstains

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Mon 11 May 8:48AM

  16. F4k this , F4k that... liverfool here,..... man-ure ­ arse-anal there.... WHAT IS WRONG WITH U PEOPLE­ ???

    This is a game, and i bearly see anybody talking­ about it.... its only about who hates the­ most...

    greets *A ManUtd fan who still thinks that­ Gerard rocks*

    From ilirjorgo, on Mon 11 May 8:46AM

  17. Liverpool has made massive progress this season and­ look like they are going to end up empty­ handed.
    Whiskey nose won't be there much longer and­ Manure will fall apart, 30 years it took em to win the­ league I doubt its going to take Liverpool quite that­ long

    From FoeyP, on Mon 11 May 8:43AM

  18. What was going on yesterday with Tevez and Ronaldo? Are­ they both trying to get away from Sunny Manchester?

    From walks3y, on Mon 11 May 8:42AM

  19. Redback mk2 Great post. Well done a sensible football­ supporter.

    From walks3y, on Mon 11 May 8:39AM

  20. Well said mugpgits, but I don't understand why you­ were upset with me personally yesterday... I think­ some idiot has cloned my ID (among others) and been­ stirring things up... Either that or you ID was cloned­ to make out you were stirring things up... Either way,­ hope you can see through the b-oll-ox

    From Colonel K, on Mon 11 May 8:36AM
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