Manchester United edged closer to their 20th league title when a Titus Bramble own goal gave them a 1-0 win at Sunderland yesterday to keep them 15 points clear of Manchester City with eight games to go.
City, whose manager Roberto Mancini conceded on Thursday that their hopes of retaining the title were over, beat Newcastle United 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium with goals from Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure after they started the match 18 points behind United, who kicked off earlier in the day.
United, who set a top-flight all-time record of 25 wins from their opening 30 matches, have 77 points, with City second on 62.
With United and City likely to take the top two spots, the race for the remaining two Champions League places hotted up with Tottenham Hotspur bouncing back from successive league defeats by winning 2-1 at Swansea City to leapfrog Chelsea into third place after the latter lost 2-1 at Southampton.
Spurs have 57 points, two ahead of Chelsea on 55, with Arsenal, who beat Reading 4-1, on 53.
Arsenal’s win meant Reading, who had new manager Nigel Adkins in charge for the first time, dropped to the bottom of the table below Queens Park Rangers on goal difference. QPR play at Fulham tomorrow.
Perennial relegation battlers Wigan Athletic beat Norwich City 1-0 with a late goal from Arouna Kone to move out of the relegation zone, at least until Aston Villa, who are 18th, play Liverpool today.
The decisive goal in United’s win at Sunderland came after 27 minutes when Robin van Persie ended a jinking run on the left with a shot that took a deflection off Bramble’s thigh, leaving Black Cats keeper Simon Mignolet stranded.
Van Persie, without a league goal in his seven previous league games – although he did score three for the Netherlands in their recent World Cup qualifiers – was asked whether he would claim it.
“Of course, no question about it. It’s been a while so it’s nice to score again and it was an important goal,” the Dutchman told Sky Sports.
It was United’s seventh successive league win, their sixth league game without conceding, and their 25th win from their 30 league matches – a record number of victories in the top flight at this stage of the season since league football began in 1888.
United have also now scored in their last 18 unbeaten league matches, and manager Alex Ferguson, whose side host City in their next league game, on April 8, praised his players.
He told BBC: “It was a battle in the second half and you have to give Sunderland credit as they had a real go at us.
“We picked up two or three injuries and our goalkeeper was hurt so it was a real battling performance. We’ve got to win four games out of the last eight and it’s important we focus on the Manchester City game, which is next at home.”
Chelsea marathon
Before that United go to Chelsea tomorrow for an FA Cup quarter-final replay.
Chelsea face six matches in the next 16 days and began that marathon run with an indifferent performance at Southampton, where they were well beaten 2-1 by the Saints, who added Chelsea’s scalp to those of Liverpool and Manchester City this season.
Southampton, who climbed three places to 13th, went ahead with a Jay Rodriguez goal after 23 minutes, and although John Terry equalised with a header after 33 minutes, Rickie Lambert marked his 500th league appearance with what proved to be the winner – a 30-metre free-kick two minutes after Terry’s goal.
Chelsea’s interim manager, Rafael Benitez, said: “We have a game in hand on Tottenham. We have to carry on and be ready for the next challenge. We don’t have too many options in some positions so we have to manage the squad.
“We are really disappointed. We were giving the ball away too easily. The players playing today were playing to be in the Champions League next season.”
The defeat cost Chelsea ground in the race for the top four as Spurs recovered from their recent setbacks to win at Swansea with superb goals from Jan Vertonghen, his fourth in five games, and Gareth Bale, who scored his 22nd goal of the season, in the opening 21 minutes.
Bale was in the unusual position of playing at the same Liberty Stadium as an away player for Spurs four days after playing there as a home player for Wales in a World Cup qualifier.
But he ended on the winning side as Spurs held off a frantic finish from the home side once Michu headed Swansea back into the contest with 19 minutes to go.