LEVEL ON POINTS

 

 

Last time around United dealt with Wigan pretty smoothly in the Premiership. First up came a 2-0 win at Old Trafford which saw the Reds hit the net either side of half time and the Latics finish with nine men, allowing United to cruise the back end of the match. Then came a 4-0 win at the DW Stadium later in the season with us going one up before half time with Wigan putting on a pretty good performance early on before getting buried by the Reds in the second half. When the dust settled on that season United claimed the title while Wigan managed to dodge the drop yet again - having become one of the top flight's great survivors!

This time round well yet again Wigan found themselves in the dtop zone while United were starting to hit top gear and City weren't liking that one bit. And Wigan heading to Old Trafford for a Premiership match looked like a pretty straightforward match - for the reigning champions at least. Once again the target was to pick up another three points and then maybe, just maybe, we might be Premiership leaders before 2011 is out. Anyway this was an interesting United lineup with Valencia at right back, Evans and Carrick central defence, Gibson and Giggsy centre mid, Park left mid, Hernandez and Berbatov up front. Time to see what happened.

Despite the strange lineup, United did not take long in getting down to business and in the 8th minute Evra steamed through and crossed to Park for the opener. United didn't take long in looking for a second but Wigan had no intention of just rolling over and certainly had enough opportunities to equalise. However United were clearly the better side on the day and Wigan found themselves in a deeper hole when Connor Sammon got himself sent off though on this occasion we were lucky the ref was so harsh. Then in the 41st minute Gibson found Berbatov and the Bulgarian assasin is clearly redoscovering his touch, getting our second. So far so good.

Wigan certainly weren't quite done and got a freekick early on in the second half but couldn't do much with it. Then in the 58th minute Valencia found Berbatov and the Bulgarian got his second goal and from that point onwards Wigan were pretty much nosediving in flames. In the 75th minute Carrick set up Valencia for the Ecuadorian's first Premiership goal of the season and against his former club before Berbatov completed his hat-trick in the 78th minute, slotting a penalty after one of our guys got hacked. That was pretty much it another awesome display from the Reds and to think people were writing us off a couple of months back as well!

Elsewhere, Man City drew 0-0 with West Brom at the Hawthorns. While the Blues were certainly the better team on the day Roy Hodgeson's crew proved to be a stubborn bunch of gits and Roberto Mancini clearly has a lot to learn still if he wants to win a Premiership title. Chelsea drew 1-1 with Fulham at Stamford Bridge. The first half was goalless with the home side then opening the scoring but Fulham equalised not long afterwards. That means that United remain 2nd in the Premiership and on course for next season's Champions League group stages. They're now level on points with leaders Man City though but have a -5 goal difference deficit. They do have an eleven point lead over Chelsea and a detour through the playoffs though.

North of the border, Aberdeen continued their SPL campaign. First up came a 2-1 defeat to Inverness CT at the renamed Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. The match was goalless at half time before Caley got both their goals in quick succsession and though the Dons pulled one back they weren't able to find an equaliser. Then came a 0-0 draw with Hearts at Pittodrie. Well the Dons had the most opportunities of that encounter but failed to do anything with them. That means that Aberdeen remain 9th in the SPL, five points behind Dundee United and the top half of the table and seven points ahead of Dunfirmline and relegation(though Dunfirlimne have two games in hand).

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