Manchester United 1 v 0 Liverpool
Old Trafford, Manchester
22nd January 2006
Manchester United confirmed themselves as Chelsea's main contenders, in spite of the fact that they are 14 points behind the current Champions.
It was a typical Manchester United spirited performance that finally saw off Liverpool, and saw the end of Liverpool's best run since the Premiership began.
It was not a full strength team fielded by Sir Alex, with Ronny suspended, Smith and Scholes ill, and Silvestre dropped in favour of Evra after his hapless defending last week.
This meant a central-midfield of O'Shea and Giggs, which was even further boroken up following the half-time removal of O'Shea because of a head injury. Saha took his place to make United's line-up as attacking as they come.
Truth be told, the first half was dull, with the passing rarely finding the man, and with the boys sapped for confidence and seemingly refusin to play the high-tempo game that they had taken the game to Chelsea and Arsenal with.
Ferdinand saved off the line, but other than that there was very little goal-mouth action, with Rooney the only United boy to look anything like scoring, with a rasping 40yard power-blast that skimmed the far post.
And so it fell to last-minute heroics. Liverpool had just squandered a similarly-placed free-kick before conceding one to Evra, who had a much better game this time round. Giggs whipped the ball in, and Ferdinand leapt and headed from 12yards with a powerful heading ability that United fans are fast becoming accustomed to!
Game won, and Rooney and Gary Neville went mad (literally) with Gary screaming at the Liverpool fans, and Rooney running Maradona-esque to the camera screaming!
Great emotion, great passion, great result. And Chelsea droppd points too, what could be better?!
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra, Giggs, Fletcher, O'Shea (Saha 45), Richardson, Rooney, van Nistelrooy.
Subs Not Used: Howard, Vidic, Silvestre, Rossi.
Booked: Richardson, Rooney.
Goals: Ferdinand 90.
Liverpool: Reina, Finnan, Hyypia, Carragher, Riise, Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko (Kromkamp 89), Kewell, Crouch (Morientes 59), Cisse (Sinama Pongolle 75).
Subs Not Used: Dudek, Traore.
Booked: Sissoko, Alonso, Gerrard.
Att: 67,874
Ref: M Riley (W Yorkshire).
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