The Centre Circle

Today’s first game saw the North West’s big two, Man Utd & Liverpool lock horns at Old Trafford. Liverpool hit the first blow after only 5 minutes. Gerrard picked up the ball after United lost possession in midfield. He passed out to Kuyt on the right who sent over a delicious cross to Torres, who unmarked in the box, sent a flying header past  a despairing Van de Sar in the United goal. United were not behind for long. Valencia made a surging run towards the box, and in an attempt to stop him, Mascherano pulled back the United winger. Valencia fell theatrically in the penalty box and Howard Webb the referee gave a penalty. The resulting spot kick taken by Wayne Rooney was saved by Pepe Reina, however unluckily for the Liverpool keeper, he could only parry it out to the United striker, who made no mistake with the rebound, burying it in the net. Replays later showed that the foul by Mascherano was committed outside the box. The sparring continued for the rest of the half, United going close on two occasions with Park headers. A warning to Liverpool which they were later not to heed.

The second half started in much the vein of the first half, both teams looking for supremacy. After 59 minutes, Rooney spread the ball out to Fletcher, he waited for Gary Neville to make the dummy run outside him, then swung a enticing cross into the box where Ji-Sung Park this time met it with a diving header giving Reina absolutely no chance. Third time lucky for the Korean. From that point on, Man United were in truth rarely troubled until just before the end when Fernando Torres miss-kicked in front of goal, the ball looping up for the substitute Benayoun, who sent a weak header into the grateful arms of Van de Sar. Manchester United’s win takes them back to the top of the league 2 points ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool’s 10th defeat of the season leaves them with a mountain to climb to achieve a Champion’s League spot for next season. It piles yet more pressure onto Rafa Benitez who only a month ago promised guaranteed a top 4 spot. He may live to very much regret such a bold prediction.