Manchester United kicked off their defence of the
Premier League title on 17 August 2008, playing against
Newcastle United at
Old Trafford. Newcastle got the first goal of the game through an
Obafemi Martins header, but United hit straight back through
Darren Fletcher two minutes later. Alex Ferguson handed debuts to both
Rodrigo Possebon and
Rafael during the game. This was followed up by a narrow 1–0 win over
Portsmouth on 25 August.
Papa Bouba Diop went close for Portsmouth after just 12 seconds, before United opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, Darren Fletcher's scuffed shot deflecting off
Sol Campbell before being turned into the roof of the net by
Sylvain Distin. United dominated most of the match, with Portsmouth rarely testing
Edwin van der Sar in the United goal. On 13 September, United travelled to
Anfield to play
Liverpool, who handed them their first loss of the Premier League season. United got off to a strong start with
Carlos Tevez scoring in the third minute, but an own goal by
Wes Brown in the 27th minute and a goal by Liverpool winger
Ryan Babel in the 77th sealed United's fate. The game saw the debut of
Dimitar Berbatov, who had signed from
Tottenham Hotspur on 1 September; the Bulgarian marked his first appearance by providing the assist for Tevez's goal. The defeat was United's first against Liverpool in the Premier League since 2004. Following the loss at Anfield, United faced the daunting task of travelling to
Stamford Bridge to play
Chelsea. As in the previous game, United opened the scoring, with
Park Ji-sung scoring in the 18th minute after Chelsea's
Petr Čech parried Berbatov's shot into the Korean's path. United held on until the 80th minute, when
Mikel John Obi's free kick found the head of
Salomon Kalou, who headed in the equaliser. United gave their league season a kick-start with a 2–0 win over
Bolton Wanderers on 27 September. Bolton took the game to United early on in the first half, but the tide began to slowly shift back into United's favour; only the heroics of Bolton goalkeeper
Jussi Jääskeläinen kept the visitors in the game going into half-time, although
Fabrice Muamba did shoot wide from eight yards out just before the whistle. The United breakthrough came 15 minutes into the second half, when referee
Rob Styles awarded the home side a
penalty, despite
Jlloyd Samuel's challenge on
Cristiano Ronaldo appearing to have been a fair one; Ronaldo converted the penalty himself. In the 71st minute,
Paul Scholes came on for
Anderson to make his 400th Premier League appearance, while Carlos Tevez was replaced by
Wayne Rooney. Not long afterwards, Rooney doubled the Reds' lead and secured the win with an unstoppable shot after being played in by a Ronaldo back-heel. The Red Devils then made the short trip up to
Ewood Park the following weekend to take on
Blackburn Rovers. Wayne Rooney declared himself fit after having picked up a knock against
Aalborg BK in midweek, and was the orchestrator of most of United's attacks, including the one that led to the opening goal. Rooney took the return pass from his own short corner before swinging the ball into the Blackburn penalty area, where it was met by the head of Wes Brown and passed between the upright and the player who was supposed to be guarding it. The Blackburn players believed that the goal should not have been allowed to stand, as
Nemanja Vidić impeded goalkeeper
Jason Brown from getting to the ball, but referee
Steve Bennett allowed it to stand. Rooney himself scored United's second goal halfway through the second half, latching on to Cristiano Ronaldo's pull-back and curling it past Brown from 12 yards. Carlos Tevez hit the post with a late strike, but the score remained at 2–0 at full-time, pushing United up the table to sixth place. After a week off for international duty, United returned to action on 18 October with a home match against
West Bromwich Albion. The Baggies started off in a disciplined fashion, but were unable to prevent the in-form Wayne Rooney from putting the ball in the back of the net after 21 minutes. However, the goal was ruled out by referee
Mark Halsey after he deemed Rooney to have pushed a West Brom defender to the floor before shooting past
Scott Carson. Neither team found the back of the net again before half-time, but Rooney soon scored a legal goal ten minutes into the second half, picking up a long through pass from Berbatov out on the left wing before cutting back into the penalty area and firing a near-post shot through
Ryan Donk's legs and past the goalkeeper. The home side then scored two goals in quick succession, Ronaldo shooting through Carson's legs for the first before Berbatov stabbed home his first League goal for United following a cross from substitute
Nani. Nani himself then added a fourth goal for the Red Devils in the 90th minute, celebrating in his usual flamboyant style. The win propelled United up to 4th place in the Premier League table, the first time they had been in the top four that season. A trip to
Goodison Park to play
Everton followed on 25 October, with Alex Ferguson preferring to stick with Rooney and Berbatov up front, leaving Tevez on the bench. United had the run of the play in the first half, and after Darren Fletcher scored from a late run into the box in the 22nd minute, they began to treat the match as somewhat of an exhibition, with Everton hardly able to get a look in. However, United were unable to add to their tally and Everton came back with added resolve after the interval. United were rocked by Everton's new-found physicality, and the Liverpudlians equalised in the 66th minute through
Marouane Fellaini, who headed home
Phil Neville's cross after an uncharacteristic lapse in concentration from
Rio Ferdinand. Ferdinand was again at fault a minute later, but Edwin van der Sar saved his blushes by saving from
Yakubu in a one-on-one situation. Wayne Rooney was booked later for inciting the fans, and he was immediately substituted. The match finished at 1–1, a result that United will look on as two points dropped, but deserved for not having killed the game off earlier. On 29 October, United hosted
West Ham United. Unlike other opposing teams that season, the Hammers struggled to cope with the tempo set by the home side from the word "go", and Dimitar Berbatov almost opened the scoring after just two minutes, only to see his shot deflected over by
Matthew Upson. The scoresheet did not remain blank for much longer, however, as Nani received the ball on the left wing after United had spent a prolonged spell inside the West Ham box, before crossing for Ronaldo who scored with a left-footed shot to the far post. Ronaldo doubled his tally 15 minutes later, although he would have found it more difficult to miss the target after Berbatov got past
James Collins with a wonderful piece of skill on the goal line. United continued to threaten
Robert Green in the West Ham goal, but they did not add to their tally. United went into their 1 November match at home to Premier League newcomers
Hull City two points behind their visitors in the league table, a position they would not have expected to find themselves in at the start of the season. Nevertheless, the Red Devils took the game to the Tigers from the kick-off, with Ronaldo opening the scoring after just three minutes. Laying the ball off to Dimitar Berbatov, the Portuguese controlled the Bulgarian's return ball 12 yards from goal before sweeping the ball in off the post with his left foot. Hull equalised in the 23rd minute, but
Michael Carrick restored United's lead on the half-hour, also shooting in off the post with his left foot. Ronaldo extended the lead just before half-time, heading in from Nani's corner. The story after half-time was much the same, as
Nemanja Vidić added a fourth from a corner that never should have reached him. However, Hull responded through
Bernard Mendy, whose lob over Edwin van der Sar crossed the line before Vidić could hook it away. They opened the game up again in the 82nd minute, with
Geovanni converting a penalty awarded after Rio Ferdinand brought Mendy down, but their response came too late and the match finished 4–3 to United. Manchester United travelled to
Arsenal's
Emirates Stadium the following weekend for a lunchtime kick-off. The match started at a high tempo, with United's players harassing the Arsenal contingent at every opportunity. Such harassment led to the first chance of the game, when
Manuel Almunia was forced into handling
Mikaël Silvestre's underhit backpass with
Wayne Rooney bearing down on him. However, the resulting indirect free kick was cleared and
Michael Carrick hit the rebound wide. It was Arsenal who opened the scoring, though, with
Samir Nasri's 22nd-minute shot deflecting off
Gary Neville and past Van der Sar. Nasri scored again just after half-time, almost bursting the net after being played in by
Cesc Fàbregas, while United never really looked like threatening the Arsenal goal. Towards the end of the game, Michael Carrick accidentally caught Manuel Almunia with his boot as the Spanish goalkeeper bravely dropped on a loose ball, resulting in Almunia requiring several minutes of treatment. He attempted to carry on, but was soon replaced by
Łukasz Fabiański. Rafael pulled a goal back for United in the final minute, but it was too little, too late for the Red Devils who swapped places with Arsenal in the league table, dropping back to fourth. The club's next fixture was a home game against
Stoke City on 15 November, the 50th anniversary of Alex Ferguson's first appearance in professional football for
Queen's Park. Despite being without the injured
Rio Ferdinand,
Ryan Giggs and
Wayne Rooney, United took the lead just three minutes into the match, with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting a dipping and swerving free kick past
Thomas Sørensen in the middle of the Stoke goal for his 100th goal for Manchester United. United's second goal came in stoppage time at the end of the first half; Michael Carrick ghosted through the Stoke City defence and, with four defenders in close proximity, hit a powerful left-footed shot into the top corner of the net. Just minutes into the second half, United scored their third goal after Dimitar Berbatov controlled Carlos Tevez's cross with the outside of his foot before volleying home. In the 84th minute,
Danny Welbeck picked up the ball on the edge of the centre circle in Stoke's half, played a one-two with
Manucho and unleashed a swerving shot from 30 yards for his first Manchester United goal in his Premier League debut for the club. Five minutes later, Ronaldo scored from another free kick to round off a 5–0 victory for the home side. The result moved United up to third place. United then travelled to
Villa Park to play
Aston Villa on 22 November. The tie ended a scoreless draw, the first time the Reds had failed to score a goal in a Premier League game since November 2007. United's next match took them crosstown to
City of Manchester Stadium to play
Manchester City on 30 November. The lone goal of the match came to United when a Michael Carrick shot rebounded off City keeper
Joe Hart and was put in the back of the net by Wayne Rooney, giving him his 100th club goal and his 83rd at United. With the victory United increased their win total in the
Manchester derby to 60 as compared to City's 41. Six days later, United faced
Sunderland at home, with United winning thanks to
Nemanja Vidić's goal in the first minute of second half stoppage time. United's next match was against
Tottenham Hotspur at
White Hart Lane on 13 December. Despite chances for both sides, Spurs keeper
Heurelho Gomes and Edwin van der Sar kept clean sheets for both sides. United then closed out the year with 1–0 wins over
Stoke City at
Britannia Stadium on 26 December and at home against
Middlesbrough three days later, with
Carlos Tevez scoring against Stoke and
Dimitar Berbatov scoring against Boro. United started 2009 with a crucial 3–0 win over
Chelsea, putting them 1 point behind Chelsea and 5 points behind
Liverpool, but they did have two games in hand. Ferguson surprised the crowd by starting Ryan Giggs ahead of Michael Carrick in central midfield, and the move paid off as Giggs was instrumental in the win. Both teams attacked in the first half, but forced few saves from either goalkeeper for the opening 30 minutes. In the 45th minute Wayne Rooney nudged the ball onto the pitch from a corner kick, before sauntering off, allowing Ryan Giggs to stroll casually over as if he was supposed to take the corner all along. Then, as Chelsea's players arranged themselves, presuming the ball to be out of play, Giggs crossed to Ronaldo who headed the ball home. However, the goal was disallowed. United retook the corner and scored through Berbatov's flick-on to Vidić who headed it in. Rooney stabbed the ball into the net after 63 minutes from a
Patrice Evra cross and a Ronaldo backheel, while Berbatov completed the rout in the 86th minute from a cross from a Ronaldo free kick. Following the win over Chelsea, United's next game was at home to
Wigan. Rooney scored from less than six yards after just 54 seconds on a cross from Ronaldo, but hobbled off with a
hamstring injury just a few minutes later. Tevez, who replaced Rooney, had a good chance after 20 minutes, rounding
Chris Kirkland in the Wigan net, but his touch was too heavy and he failed to convert the chance. Wigan improved after the disastrous start, but neither side could find a goal and the match ended 1–0 to United. With this result, United climbed to 2nd (their highest position of the season so far) above Chelsea. They remained 2 points behind Liverpool, but having played one game fewer than the Merseysiders. The Reds then travelled the short distance to
Bolton Wanderers'
Reebok Stadium on 17 January. Both sides remained scoreless after 89 minutes, with Bolton keeper
Jussi Jääskeläinen making several terrific saves and Van der Sar challenged by a
Fabrice Muamba long-range shot. Finally, Berbatov headed in a Tevez cross in the 90th minute. With the win, United extended their clean sheet record to 10, tying a record set by Chelsea in the
2004–05 season. Also with the victory, United gained three points, enough to reach the top spot of the Premier League table. This was the first time United had returned to the top spot since winning the
2007–08 Premier League title on 11 May 2008. After a week off for domestic cup involvements, United returned to league action on 27 January with an away fixture at West Bromwich Albion. Despite having several players out through injury, Alex Ferguson was able to name a fairly strong starting XI, including a fit-again Rio Ferdinand, starting his first match since the
2008 FIFA Club World Cup Final in December. Both sides started the match in an attacking mindset, with United posing the slightly greater threat, and it was they who opened the scoring in the 22nd minute through Dimitar Berbatov; the Bulgarian exchanged passes with Michael Carrick before firing across
Scott Carson into the far corner of the West Brom goal. Shortly before half-time, the Baggies were reduced to ten men when
Paul Robinson was shown a straight red card for an innocuous-looking foul on Park Ji-sung. Their misery was compounded with almost the last kick of the half as Carson failed to hang on to a Ryan Giggs free kick, dropping the ball at the feet of Carlos Tevez, who lashed it home with his left foot. Nemanja Vidić added a third on the hour mark with a header from Giggs' corner, before Giggs set up another for Cristiano Ronaldo five minutes later. Ronaldo completed the scoring in the 73rd minute, shooting through Carson's legs after being put through by Berbatov, despite the West Brom players' protests that both Berbatov and Ronaldo had been offside during the build-up to the goal. The win took United three points clear of Liverpool, who were not to play until the following day, but the fact that they kept a clean sheet meant that they set a new Premier League record for consecutive clean sheets – with 11 – while Edwin van der Sar had not conceded in 1,032 minutes of football, surpassing Petr Čech's record of 1,025 minutes, set during the 2003–04 season. After setting the Premier League clean sheet record against West Brom, Edwin van der Sar went into the following game against Everton knowing that if he kept the Toffees off the scoresheet for 72 minutes, he would also set a new clean sheet record for the entire English league – the previous record, set by
Steve Death of
Reading in 1979, stood at 1,104 minutes. In the end, he continued his flawless record for the entire 90 minutes as United recorded another 1–0 win. The first half was largely dominated by United, who saw strikes from Park Ji-sung and Carlos Tevez stopped by goalkeeper
Tim Howard, while Cristiano Ronaldo hit the inside of the post with Howard beaten. The breakthrough came at the end of the first half, as Michael Carrick made his way into the box before being tripped by
Mikel Arteta. Carrick attempted to stay on his feet, but when United were unable to gain an advantage, referee Mark Halsey pointed to the penalty spot; Ronaldo converted the resulting penalty kick to open the scoring. During the second half, Carrick looked to have won another penalty for United when he was knocked to the ground by
Joleon Lescott, but Halsey turned away the Red Devils' appeals. Van der Sar was forced into a save from a 30-yard free kick by Arteta on the hour mark, but the shot never looked to be seriously troubling the goalkeeper. United continued to hold on for another 1–0 win to take them five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea, who were to play each other the following day. Liverpool won the match 2–0 with two late goals from
Fernando Torres, which closed the gap between themselves and United to two points, although they had now played one more match than United. Liverpool returned to the top of the table with a 3–2 away win over Portsmouth on 7 February, but they remained there for less than 24 hours as United recorded a 1–0 away win over West Ham to restore their two-point lead. West Ham came into the game off the back of a six-game unbeaten run, and it was they who had the better of the early chances; first,
Lucas Neill had a shot from the edge of the area stopped by Edwin van der Sar, who then denied
Carlton Cole as the English striker attempted to chip him from just inside the box. United settled into their characteristic passing rhythm, but the two sides went into half-time still at 0–0. Halfway through the second half, Ryan Giggs picked up a pass from Paul Scholes out on the left wing. He then took the ball round a sliding Carlton Cole and cut into the box, before curling a shot through a narrow gap and past
Robert Green's outstretched left hand for the first goal of the game. The goal meant that Giggs maintained his record of having scored in every season of the Premier League since its inception. Cristiano Ronaldo was denied a penalty in the dying minutes of the game after he was tripped by Lucas Neill, and then he smashed a free kick into the chest of
Scott Parker, but there were no further goals and United returned to the top of the table. As a result of their qualification for the
2008 UEFA Super Cup, United's home fixture against
Fulham, which was originally scheduled for the weekend of 30/31 August 2008, was eventually played on 18 February 2009. United went into the match, their game in hand over second-placed Liverpool, two points ahead of the Merseysiders and could extend their lead to five points with a win over Fulham. With this in mind, the Red Devils started well, and opened the scoring in the 12th minute through Paul Scholes; Michael Carrick picked out Scholes just outside the area with a pinpoint corner, and the veteran midfielder volleyed the ball goalwards. Fulham goalkeeper
Mark Schwarzer got down to stop the shot, but the spin and pace on the ball took it over the line. Carlos Tevez had a goal ruled out for offside shortly after, before a Dimitar Berbatov strike was blocked on the line by
Aaron Hughes, but the Bulgarian did end up doubling United's tally shortly before the half-hour, stealing in ahead of Schwarzer to convert
John O'Shea's square cross. Berbatov had the ball in the net again on the stroke of half-time, but he was deemed to have been offside in the build-up. Wayne Rooney, returning from a seven-game absence due to a hamstring injury, was introduced on the hour, and scored with his first touch, poking home Park Ji-sung's misdirected shot across goal.
Bobby Zamora came close to ending United's run of clean sheets in the closing stages, but his shot went narrowly wide and United held on to win 3–0. The following weekend presented United with an opportunity to stretch their lead over Liverpool to eight points, as United played against Blackburn Rovers on the Saturday, while Liverpool would not play Manchester City until the Sunday. With one eye on the
Champions League round of 16 tie against
Internazionale the following Tuesday, Alex Ferguson rested Edwin van der Sar and Nemanja Vidić, and played
Tomasz Kuszczak and
Jonny Evans in their stead. Despite the defensive shake-up, United had the better of the early chances, with both Scholes and Ronaldo going close before Nani put Wayne Rooney through for the first goal in the 23rd minute. The Portuguese winger curled a through-pass round the back of the Blackburn defence, and although
Ryan Nelsen got a toe to the ball, it was not enough to take it away from Rooney, who poked it past
Paul Robinson in the Blackburn goal. However, the lead only lasted nine minutes, as Blackburn became the first team in more than 22 hours of football (1,334 minutes) to breach the Manchester United defence; after catching Nani in possession,
André Ooijer played a through ball to
Roque Santa Cruz, who took the ball round the sliding Rio Ferdinand and Tomasz Kuszczak and shot home from a narrowing angle. Jonny Evans looked to have restored United's lead on the stroke of half-time, but his header was ruled out after the referee deemed Cristiano Ronaldo to have impeded Ryan Nelsen. Nelsen himself almost gave Blackburn the lead shortly after the break, but his effort came back off the post, and the follow-up strike from
El Hadji Diouf was saved by Kuszczak. In the end, though, it was United who regained the lead in the 60th minute; the Red Devils were awarded a free kick wide to the left of the penalty area, and, as usual, Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take it. Despite it looking like the angle was too narrow to strike at goal, the FIFA World Player of the Year hit a characteristic dipping shot over the wall and over the head of Paul Robinson to make the score 2–1. The scoreline remained the same for the next half-hour, and although it looked like
Morten Gamst Pedersen may have been pulled back by Rafael in the penalty area late in the game, the referee deemed it not to be a foul and United held on for the win. United's next game was played
away against
Newcastle United. Van der Sar was back in goal, having missed the previous two games (the league game against
Blackburn and the
League Cup Final against
Tottenham Hotspur). However, his
clean sheet record finally came to an end after just 9 minutes as
Peter Løvenkrands opened the scoring for Newcastle. Obafemi Martins should have put Newcastle 2–0 up, but he slid his shot wide and was made to pay as Wayne Rooney slotted home midway through the first half, which ended 1–1. The game was slightly marred by two questionable challenges, late in the first half, by Newcastle's
Steven Taylor, who first appeared to hit Cristiano Ronaldo with his arm and then, moments later, slid a dangerous tackle in on Michael Carrick. However, despite some anger from players such as Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, Taylor only received a single yellow card. The second half started brightly, and Dimitar Berbatov scored what proved to be the winner just before the hour mark after Taylor mis-hit a back-pass. Neither team could manage another goal and the game ended 2–1 to Manchester United. The Reds' next league encounter saw the visit of
Liverpool to Old Trafford, bringing the two main title contenders head-to-head. United started the match brightly and took the lead on 23 minutes when Park Ji-sung was brought down in the penalty area by
Pepe Reina and referee
Alan Wiley pointed to the spot, where Cristiano Ronaldo converted the penalty kick to Reina's right. The lead only lasted five minutes, however, as Nemanja Vidić failed to deal with a long ball from Liverpool's
Martin Škrtel and
Fernando Torres punished his error with a cool finish past Edwin van der Sar to level the scores. Things went from bad to worse for the hosts just before the break when Patrice Evra tripped
Steven Gerrard in the penalty area, where Gerrard scored the resulting spot kick; Van der Sar went the right way, diving to his left, but the ball was out of his reach. After the break, United drove at Liverpool in an attempt to find an equaliser, but Vidić was sent off after hauling down Gerrard on the edge of the penalty area and
Fábio Aurélio scored the subsequent free kick to give Liverpool a 3–1 lead. In injury time,
Andrea Dossena took advantage of Reina's goal kick and chipped Van der Sar to score Liverpool's fourth and close the gap at the top of the table to four points. United suffered a further setback when they lost their next league encounter against
Fulham 2–0 at Craven Cottage, seeing the team's lead in the league cut to only a point. Paul Scholes was sent off in the 18th minute for handling the ball on the goal-line and
Danny Murphy scored the resulting penalty. Despite strong pressure from United in the second half, following an unconvincing first-half display,
Zoltán Gera scored a second goal for Fulham to seal the match. Wayne Rooney was also dismissed for two bookable offences and would subsequently miss the next match. This was the first time since 2005 that United had lost two consecutive league games. On 5 April, after an international break, United faced
Aston Villa at home. Cristiano Ronaldo scored an early first-half goal to give United the lead, only for
John Carew to equalise after 30 minutes. After the break,
Gabriel Agbonlahor headed the ball into the net to give Villa the lead. With United looking to avoid a third-straight Premier League defeat for the first time in four years, Ronaldo scored an equaliser on 80 minutes to set up a frantic finale to the match. Debutant
Federico Macheda, who came on as a substitute, scored an injury-time winner for United and took them back to the top of the league after Liverpool had briefly led, having beaten Fulham 1–0 the day before. The Reds' next game was away to a struggling
Sunderland, which they won 2–1 thanks to another goal from Macheda. United took the lead through Paul Scholes' looping header from Wayne Rooney's cross on 19 minutes but Sunderland equalised on 55 minutes through
Kenwyne Jones' bundled finish. United had created a few good chances to double their lead before Sunderland's goal, with Scholes and Rooney both shooting narrowly wide. However, with Sunderland trying to hold-on to a precious point, Macheda was introduced and within seconds had put United ahead. Michael Carrick had taken a shot which looked to be going wide, but Macheda was in the box, alongside other players, and he flicked his left foot towards the ball, directing it into
Craig Gordon's bottom corner to give United the win and put them back to the top of the table again. Liverpool's 4–4 draw with
Arsenal on 22 April returned the Merseysiders to the top of the table, but only on
goal difference, with United having two games in hand on their
rivals. United had the chance, 24 hours later, to retake top spot with a home game against
Portsmouth. United – who picked a team containing nine changes from the one that lost to
Everton in the FA Cup semi-final – did not start very well and Portsmouth took the early possession, but following a good through-ball from Anderson, Ryan Giggs crossed for Wayne Rooney to score past England goalkeeper,
David James to put United 1–0 up after just nine minutes. The remainder of the first half saw United squander a number of chances, the best of which being a goal-line clearance from a John O'Shea header. Portsmouth improved in the second half, although Edwin van der Sar was rarely troubled. It took until the 82nd minute for substitute Michael Carrick to score from a perfect through-ball from Paul Scholes, who was playing his 600th game for United. The second goal effectively killed the game and United finished comfortable 2–0 winners, taking them three points ahead of Liverpool. United welcomed the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to Old Trafford for their next game, knowing that they had slipped down to second in the league on goal difference after Liverpool had beaten Hull City earlier in the day. What the Reds didn't welcome, however, was being 2–0 down at half-time, with
Darren Bent and
Luka Modrić having taken advantage of two showings of poor defending by United. Bent scored from close range just before the half-hour mark, finishing off a
Vedran Ćorluka cross, having got the better of Rio Ferdinand. Within two minutes, Modrić had doubled Spurs' lead, scoring close in after
Aaron Lennon's cross had beaten Ferdinand. After an uncharacteristically tame first half from United's perspective, they started the second better, with Carlos Tevez replacing Nani during the interval. United got a goal back twelve minutes after the restart, via a controversial
penalty. Michael Carrick was fed through into the box, only to be brought down by
Heurelho Gomes. Replays showed that Gomes actually touched the ball but despite the keeper's protests, referee
Howard Webb pointed to the spot. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up and dispatched the penalty down the centre of the goal. Ten minutes later, Wayne Rooney equalised in a less debatable fashion, hitting in a shot at Gomes' near post after Dimitar Berbatov and Rafael had combined well. Only one minute after equalising, United were ahead. Rooney created some space down the left wing and crossed the ball in to find Ronaldo's diving header. The comeback looked to be complete three minutes later when United went 4–2 up, with Rooney's shot only just crossing the line despite
Jonathan Woodgate trying his best to keep it out with his torso. The Reds' onslaught had stunned Tottenham and to add insult to injury, ex-Spurs player Berbatov scored United's fifth eight minutes after Rooney's second. The
Bulgarian's initial header was saved by Gomes but he followed it up and poked the ball in with his boot. A very important comeback, shadowing United's 5–3 turnaround against the same team in
2001, put them three points ahead of Liverpool with five games left.
Middlesbrough were up next for United, at the
Riverside. A usually tricky game for the Reds ended with a comfortable 2–0 away win, thanks to goals either side of half-time. Ryan Giggs opened the scoring with his first goal since being named as
PFA Player of the Year, and his 98th
Premier League goal in total. Giggs received the ball from Nemanja Vidić, steadied himself, and slotted it past
Brad Jones' left hand from the edge of the area with 25 minutes played. United created a handful of chances in the remainder of the first half but none worried Boro's
Australian goalkeeper. Park Ji-sung doubled the Reds' lead though shortly after half-time. Giggs and Federico Macheda combined with a
one-two before Wayne Rooney threaded a pass through the Boro defence to find Park superbly. Park then settled the game with a decisive strike low into the bottom corner. It was
derby day next up for United as
Manchester City made the short trip to Old Trafford. Again, Liverpool were top of the table on goal difference with United having two games in hand. The match was slow and had few shots on target from either side, although United ran out 2–0 winners, with both goals coming in the first half. Cristiano Ronaldo got United's first with a deflected free kick after City's
Stephen Ireland had fouled Dimitar Berbatov 25 yards out. On the stroke of half-time, Carlos Tevez got United's second, hitting the post on the way, after Berbatov had brilliantly controlled Darren Fletcher's long ball before setting-up Tevez just outside the box. This was Tevez's first league goal of the season at Old Trafford. The second half was fairly forgettable, with few points of note.
Robinho blazed well wide from a good position for City, while Tevez hit the post from a matter of inches late on. The only other talking point was the angry reaction of Ronaldo to being substituted with over half an hour to play. The result left United needing just four points from their last three games to win a third consecutive title. United gained three of those points
away to Wigan three days later, when Michael Carrick's left-footed shot found the back of the net in the eighty-sixth minute. Wigan had almost gone in front within 90 seconds of the start, when
Antonio Valencia was clean through, but shot wide of the goal. United then missed two chances in a minute when both Carrick and Wayne Rooney could not get the ball on target.
Hugo Rodallega opened the scoring for Wigan in the 28th minute when he hit a shot past Edwin van der Sar at the near post. By half time, United had not managed a single shot on target, despite heavily dominating the possession. Carlos Tevez was brought on for Anderson early in the second half and did not disappoint, scoring a goal with a back-heeled deflected shot from Michael Carrick just three minutes after coming on. Not satisfied with a draw, United continued to press and Carrick's late shot through traffic put the Red Devils within one point of sealing the Premier League title, being now six points clear of second-placed Liverpool with two games to go, although the
Merseysiders had a better goal difference and both teams now having the same number of matches left. On 16 May, United successfully defended their Premier League title for the second year running with a 0–0 draw at home to Arsenal. Arsenal took the game to United, although fighting only for pride as their league position was already secured, and if it were not for some good defending by United, they could have taken the lead. Wayne Rooney could have put United ahead, but his first-half header went wide of
Łukasz Fabiański's post. The Reds had a well-worked Park Ji-sung goal disallowed for an incorrect offside later in the second half. Park had slotted the ball into an empty net after playing a one-two with Cristiano Ronaldo, but Ronaldo was judged to have been ahead of the last defender when Park played the ball through. When the final whistle blew, the United players, manager and backroom staff celebrated jubilantly, having been crowned champions of England for the 18th time. United's final game of the Premier League season, played on 24 May, was away to Hull. The majority of the team was rested ahead of the Champions League final three days later. Darron Gibson's 20-yard shot was enough to give United a 1–0 win.
Matches Final league table ==FA Cup==