Whilst the Premier League table may say 8 points, Roberto Mancini will have to concede that the gap between Manchester United and Man City is way larger than that.
United played QPR today knowing that they could stretch their lead over their rivals to 8 points before a ball had even been kicked at The Emirates. Having been here so many times before, there was no way Sir Alex would allow his men to pass up on such an opportunity.
There will be much controversy over United’s opener as Ashely Young won a penalty after minimal contact from QPR captain Shaun Derry. Derry was red carded and to make the matter worse Young appeared to be offside. But Rooney showed no sympathy duly dispatching the penalty.
Down to 10 men, you would have expected United to run rampant but they were frivolous with their chances until Scholes wrapped up the game with 25 yard drive that left Paddy Kenny with little chance. Patrick Vieira muist be regretting his comments even more in light of what happened in North London later.
With United doing their job it was up to Man City to deal with the pressure but from the start Arsenal were in no mood to play. City were lucky not to go down earlier after Vermaelen blocked RVP’s header from a corner and in the second half Vermaelen was way too casual in front of goal fluffing his lines from 3 yards out.
But Arsenal would make their dominance count when Mikel Arteta’s sweet strike flew past Joe Hart with just 3 minutes to go. There was still time for Mario Balotelli to see red but considering his horror tackle on Alex Song in the first half he should count himself lucky to have survived as long as he did.
Man City now face a monumental task in over throwing United but with just 6 games to go, it is unlikely.
For United “Name on the trophy”? With their experience, I would say so!
We need to stay professional and finish the job. Its not over until its over, but we are in a good position. We have to beat Wigan and Aston Villa and then we will be almost there. One game at a time though and Wigan is the next focus. We don’t have to look at anybody else and we can just focus on our results and winning.