Manchester United have gone eight points clear in the Premier League title race after they beat QPR 2-0 at Old Trafford this afternoon. Arsenal made sure the gap stayed that way by beating Man City 1-0 at the Emirates a few hours later.
The home side were awarded a controversial penalty only 15 minutes in after Shaun Derry was judged to have fouled Ashley Young in the area. Referee Lee Mason awarded United the penalty and showed a red card to the QPR man. Upstepped Wayne Rooney who netted his 29th goal of the campaign.
After the game, Sir Alex Ferguson spoke about the first goal. The Manchester United manager told MUTV:
“Ashley was a yard offside so I can understand Mark [Hughes] being angry and disappointed at that. You see these kinds of decisions every week though.”
“The boy’s just got a little tug on Young, not a great deal but enough to get us the penalty. And unfortunately he was the last defender and had to be sent off.”
Paul Scholes made sure that the Red Devils left with all three points after scoring the second goal of the game with just over 20 minutes of the match remaining with a brilliant 25-yard strike.
Sir Alex continued:
“The second goal from Scholes calmed everyone down. Before that we’d kept missing those vital chances. Welbeck was through, then we hit the bar and the post and balls were flying across the box, but it just wouldn’t go in.”
The win took United eight points clear of Man City who played Arsenal later on in the day. Man United’s title rivals lost 1-0 to Arsenal thanks to a goal from Mikel Arteta. With only six games left to play in the league, City’s loss and United’s win gives the latter a very large advantage.
