Michael Carrick struck an 87th-minute winner to sink Wigan 2-1 and
move Manchester United to within a solitary point of retaining their
Premier League title.
Carrick sealed another comeback win when he drove home John O'Shea's
pass from the edge of the box, leaving United a point away from completing
a hat-trick of Premier League triumphs.
Only once during Sir Alex Ferguson's 10 previous successes have
United done it in front of their own fans. Now all they must do
is avoid defeat against Arsenal to render a last-day trip to Hull,
for the Red Devils at least, meaningless.
If Carrick was the match-winner, Carlos Tevez was again the hero,
producing an impudent back-heel minutes after his introduction as
a substitute to peg the Latics back.
Steve Bruce's men gave their all after taking a deserved first-half
lead through Hugo Rodallega. But the Wigan boss knows more than
most, Manchester United are not beaten that easily.
Any pretensions United had of being in for an easy evening were
blasted out of the window after only two minutes.
The Red Devils' record against Wigan may have read eight wins from
eight attempts, to an overall score of 23-3, and the Latics might
still have been looking for their first league win against a top-four
team, but Bruce was in no mood to let his old club saunter to their
18th league title.
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