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LONDON - Manchester United took a giant step towards the Premier League title when they beat Manchester City 1-0 in a one-sided local derby on Sunday to open up an eight-point lead over defending champions Chelsea.
United, who won with a 34th minute penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo, have
88 points with two matches to play which means Chelsea, on 80 points with three matches to go, must win at Arsenal on Monday (NZ time) to keep alive their slim hopes of a third successive championship.
Anything less and United will go to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea on Thursday as champions.
At the other end of the table, West Ham United moved out of the relegation zone for the first time since early December with a 3-1 home win over Bolton Wanderers with Argentine midfielder Carlos Tevez scoring twice.
Wigan Athletic though, slipped into the bottom three for the first time this season - and three points adrift - after losing 1-0 at home to Middlesbrough, their eighth successive match without a win. Mark Viduka scored the only goal in the 29th minute.
Fulham moved up to 15th after their 1-0 win over Champions League finalists Liverpool at Craven Cottage with American substitute Clint Dempsey scoring the goal after 69 minutes. Sheffield United failed to ease their relegation worries as a 3-0 defeat at Aston Villa left them 16th, level on 38 points with West Ham.
Everton moved up to fifth and effectively secured a place in next season's UEFA Cup with a 3-0 home win over fellow hopefuls Portsmouth while Reading's hopes of a first European place took a knock with a surprise 2-0 home defeat by relegated Watford.
Blackburn Rovers stayed in contention for a UEFA Cup place with a 2-0 win at Newcastle United where fit-again Michael Owen made his first home appearance since December 2005.
All the early attention was focused on the lunchtime kickoff at Eastlands in a Manchester derby totally dominated by United but decided by two penalties.
Ronaldo scored his but City's Darius Vassell blew a chance to equalise from the spot when Edwin van der Sar saved his 81st minute effort.
United, recovering from their shattering loss to AC Milan in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, dominated from first kick to last and always looked like winning to go within touching distance of their first title since 2003.
"A delighted United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports: "The courage they showed today was fantastic. You saw the real Manchester United today, there was tiredness there and our game wasn't as sharp as normal, but derby games can be like that."
He said a draw between Arsenal and Chelsea on Sunday would "do me fine," but that he would not watch the match on television and was due to go to Spain.
It was the second successive home match in which City had missed a penalty after Joey Barton's failure against Aston Villa last week and meant they ended the season without a goal in eight successive home matches since New Year's Day.
Their season's tally of 10 home league goals is the worst record in the English top tier since league football began in 1888.
- REUTERS
