Manchester Utd 2 Stoke City 1:MANCHESTER UNITED will renew hostilities with Liverpool in the FA Cup on Sunday confidently believing they have moved into a position to overhaul their old rivals as the most successful league team in English football.
This win puts them three points clear at the top of the table, with a game in hand on second-placed Manchester City, and a record 19th title will beckon unless opponents can work out how Alex Ferguson’s team can be defeated.
Unbeaten in the league all season, Ferguson’s team are not always reaching the heights that are demanded of this club, but playing with a sense of purpose and know-how that may be good enough.
Other teams would have wilted when Dean Whitehead’s header early in the second half cancelled out Javier Hernandez’s sumptuous 27th-minute goal but United simply regrouped, stepped up the tempo and reasserted their authority, Nani scoring the winner with a lovely strike from outside the penalty area.
United are now nine points ahead of the champions Chelsea and will reflect on a satisfying night’s work given that this was an experimental side, with half a dozen changes from the 2-1 victory at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, and enough players missing to offer Stoke a rare glimmer of hope at a ground that has been cruel to them over the years.
Stoke have tended to capitulate on their visits to Old Trafford, not winning here since 1976 and losing the previous two matches 5-0 and 4-0, but in the opening part of this game they did a good job to subdue the home crowd.
United lacked creativity and penetration and, with Stoke’s defence looking relatively assured, there were the first murmurs of discontent in the stands.
Yet Hernandez has already demonstrated this season that he is an accomplished replacement for Wayne Rooney and this was another classy goal for the portfolio of his first season in English football. The Mexican is not just a predatory and clinical striker, but an improvisational one.
When United won at Stoke in October he scored one of his two goals with a twisting header that barely seemed plausible. On this occasion he beat the goalkeeper Asmir Begovic with an impudent finish off the corner of his heel.
With United ahead, Stoke’s record on this ground suggested that the home side would then run away with the game. Yet this was a strange night, one of those matches when the crowd is quiet and routine passes went astray.
Stoke had barely threatened Kuszczak’s goal but Smalling was guilty of losing his position and then standing off Tuncay Sanli as the attacker crossed from the left. With Smalling stranded, Dean Whitehead eluded the home defence to direct a header into the bottom corner.
Stoke’s joy was short-lived. After 61 minutes Nani took Hernandez’s pass and the Portuguese’s left-foot diagonal shot was another extraordinary goal in what for long spells was an ordinary game.
Guardian Service
MAN UTD: Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva, Vidic, Smalling, Evra, Nani, Gibson (Carrick 78), Fletcher, Giggs, Berbatov, Hernandez (Owen 78). Subs Not Used:Amos, Anderson, Fabio Da Silva, Evans, Obertan.
STOKE: Begovic, Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Collins, Sanli, Wilson, Whitehead, Delap (Walters 69), Etherington (Pennant 68), Jones (Fuller 75). Subs Not Used: Sorensen, Higginbotham, Pugh, Whelan.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg(Tyne Wear).
