Manchester United had seen their hopes of a title diminish after watching Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield, but they still had a job to do at Sunderland and they needed a win if they wanted to hold onto that glimmer of a title hope that still remained.
Sunderland were the home team and although they have had a poor season their form has picked up recently and they do have one of the best Goal-scorers in the League in the form of Darren Bent. They were a huge 7/1 for the win though over on Victor Chandler ( Pounds 100 Free Bet for new customers) whilst The Red Devils were short at 4/11.
Man United began well with Rooney and Giggs both coming close to opening the scoring. Sunderland were still willing to play though and had some decent possession spells of their own before United got the breakthrough on the half hour mark when Nani drove a right footed shot into the bottom corner, putting the Red Devils into an expected lead.
Malbranque threatened to do something for Sunderland in the second half whilst Nani and Berbatov both missed chances, with a hatful falling the way of the latter. The Bulgarian striker just wasn’t on-form today and was eventually substituted with twenty minutes to go, with speculation already spreading that it may be his last (or certainly one of) game for Manchester United.
Carrick (subbed on for the luckless Berbatov) came close to doubling the lead when his shot was cleared off the line with just over ten minutes to play, and although Man Utd struggled to get that second goal – leaving the door open for Sunderland throughout – the Black Cats couldn’t find an equalizer and this game ended with a 1-0 win for United, who will now wait for next week to see if Wigan can do them a favor against Chelsea and give them a chance of the title.
