Utd Kids Wife

Despite many of the pundits claiming the title is Chelseas’ already United showed today that a 5 point deficit is not unassailable. Manchester United started the day knowing that a victory against West Ham would cut the lead to 2 points with Chelsea playing later on in the evening against Man City.

The omens for United weren’t good though. Playing West Ham away in the past had not been a happy hunting ground for United (let’s not talk about the final game of the 94/95 season!). Added to that the fact that United’s defence had an unusual look with Gary Neville and Wes Brown in the middle (due to an injury to Vidic) and Darren Fletcher taking the right back spot with Kuszczak in goal for the second league outing in a row.

The mis-matched pairings in defence could partly be blamed for a first half largely lacking in action. Ryan Giggs uncharacteristically almost handed The Hammers the opening goal when he passed straight to Hines in the box before redeeming himself with a challenge to deny a certain goal.

Things took a turn for the worse when Neville pulled up awkwardly and had to be taken off. The lack of defenders on the bench meant Carrick found himself deputising as an emergency centre-half. The patched up United defence should have given West Ham further hope but it was the veteran Paul Scholes that dealt the first blow just before half-time. Picking up a loose ball on the edge of the box he chested it down before smashing it into the net bringing back memories of vintage Scholes strikes from the past. It was also his 99^th Premier League goal.

West Ham had a couple of chances in the second half but a mixture of indecisiveness by the West Ham players and an alert Kuszczak meant their attacks were fruitless. It was to prove costly as Ryan Giggs as so often has happened this season was the instigator for the next United goal. As he broke down the left wing he laid the ball into the path of Darron Gibson who hit a stunning strike from 20 yards out that Scholes in his prime would have been proud of. With Scholes hinting today that he’s contemplating leaving United in the summer United could potentially have a worthy successor in the young Irishman.

The champions were in no mood to take their foot off the pedal with them assuming full control of the game. What followed was two further goals in the space of two minutes. First the ever-improving Antonio Valencia tapped in Anderson’s low cross before he provided a pin-point assist to allow Rooney to get his 11^th league strike of the campaign.

With Man City doing their neighbours a massive favour by beating Chelsea, United cut the gap at the top of the table by two points. Although Alex Ferguson must have been happy with the result he must surely be wondering who he will pair up in defence for the midweek Champions League game against Wolfsburg. Sir Alex if you’re reading this I’ve got my boots at the ready and can get to the airport in 20 minutes. I’ll wait for your call…

Technorati Tags: antonio valencia, darron gibson, paul scholes, wayne rooney, west ham