Ronaldo edges United closer to title Sunday, May 06, 2007
Manchester United took a giant step towards the Premiership title when they beat Manchester City 1-0 in a one-sided local derby yesterday to open up an eight-point lead over defending champions Chelsea.
United have 88 points with two matches to play which means Chelsea, on 80 points with three matches to go, must win at Arsenal today to keep alive their slim hopes of a third successive championship.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored for United with a 34th minute penalty while City's Darius Vassell saw Edwin van der Sar save his 81st minute penalty.
At the other end of the table, West Ham United moved out of the relegation zone for the first time since early December with a 3-1 win over Bolton Wanderers at Upton Park with Argentine midfielder Carlos Tevez scoring twice.
Wigan though, slipped into the bottom three for the first time this season _ and three points adrift _ after losing 1-0 at home to Middlesbrough, their eighth successive match without a win.
Fulham moved up to 15th, at least until the result between Aston Villa and Sheffield United who were due to play later last night, after their 1-0 win over Champions League finalists Liverpool at Craven Cottage.
In the chase for Uefa Cup places Everton moved up to fifth with a 3-0 home win over Portsmouth while Reading's hopes of a first European place took a knock with a surprise 2-0 home defeat to relegated Watford.
Blackburn Rovers stayed in contention for a Uefa Cup place with a 2-0 win at Newcastle United where fit-again Michael Owen made his first home appearance since December 2005.
Ronaldo scored from the spot on 34 minutes to notch his 23rd goal of the season after he had been tripped by Michael Ball.
The writing was on the wall for City _ who are subject to two rival bids to buy them and also had to suspend their star midfielder Joey Barton earlier in the week after a training ground altercation with Frenchman Ousmane Dabo _ once they had fallen behind as Stuart Pearce's side finished their home campaign having scored just once at Eastlands in the Premiership since New Year's Day.
But City still contrived to miss a penalty 10 minutes from time when Vassell saw his spot kick saved by van Der Sar after Wes Brown had tripped Ball.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was able to recall influential defender Rio Ferdinand, badly missed in the San Siro, while Alan Smith was recalled in attack alongside Wayne Rooney.
Ball was guilty of a nasty stamp on Ronaldo in the opening minutes, which combined with Ferguson's irate reaction towards a linesman, did little to ease the tension as it became evident United were not going to have things all their own way.
Pearce's decision to select a five-man midfield did little to enhance his side's chances of scoring, but the purpose was to stifle the forward runs of Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs and Ronaldo.
United had to wait 20 minutes for their first opening, Ferdinand finding Ronaldo with a precise ball but his control let him down.
Moments later Ronaldo flicked Giggs's corner to the back post where Ferdinand was waiting, but his header back rebounded off the crossbar and was gratefully gathered by Andreas Isaksson.
The home team were happy to sit back and try and hit their opponents on the counter attack.
Emile Mpenza stung the palms of van Der Sar with a powerful turn and volley on 16 minutes, while Demarcus Beasley did the same with a similar effort from the edge of the area 13 minutes later.
Just when United's frustrations were beginning to surface, however, the breakthrough came when Ball sent Ronaldo tumbling.
Referee Rob Styles pointed to the spot, from where the Portugal international lashed a clinical penalty into the bottom corner to secure the advantage.
His strike was to prove more than enough as the visitors cruised through the second half without their lead being threatened.
Pearce threw on Trevor Sinclair and Paul Dickov in a bid to give home fans a goal to cheer but it made no difference.
City's last chance came when Brown was penalised for a colllison with Ball. Vassell drove his penalty down the middle but van der Sar, diving the wrong way, managed to save the shot with his legs.
That save surely means United's four year wait to regain the title is over.
