4 Goal Win Fires United Back To The Top Of The Table

Football - Bolton Wanderers v Manchester United Barclays Premier League
After Chelsea beat Aston Villa 7-1 at Stamford Bridge and Birmingham drew 1-1 with Arsenal earlier on in the day, Man United had been knocked down to second in the table.

All United had to do was beat Bolton, that would take us back to the top of the table, but it was a United side without Wayne Rooney or Rio Ferdinand. Over recent weeks, many had labelled Man United a one-man team, without Rooney would we struggle?

On loan Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshire got off to a bright start, he dribbled past Antonio Valencia but his strike at goal fell well wide. With 10 minutes gone, there had been no clear cut chances in a fairly stop start game.

When United did start putting some pressure on the Bolton defence in the final third we started creating one or two chances. Dimitar Berbatov volleyed the ball at goal; Jussi Jaaskelainen parried the ball behind for a corner. Minutes later Berbatov played the ball into the area from a corner, Darren Fletcher set-up Jonny Evans, who blasted the ball over the bar.

Football - Bolton Wanderers v Manchester United Barclays Premier League

Shortly after Edwin Van Der Sar had to make a stunning save from Johan Elmander, who had received a brilliant pass from Wilshire to put the ball behind for a corner.

Man United had, had most of the possession but we seemed to be lacking in the final third. With just over half an hour played, Bolton started to have some more possession and come back into the game.

With only eight minutes remaining in the first half, United were handed a very soft goal. Bolton’s Jlloyd Samuel stuck the ball in the back of the net, for United’s 11th own goal of the season scored by opponents. Samuel was running back towards the Bolton goal, Ryan Giggs had the ball down the left, he played the ball in and Samuel was there to side foot it past his keeper and give United the lead.

Just after the re-start Van Der Sar had to make another unbelievable save. Wilshire teed up Fabrice Muamba in side the penalty area; his strike was tipped away by Van Der Sar. That will be one of the saves of the season.

The halftime whistle blew but that wasn’t the end of the drama. Just before the whistle went Sam Rickett’s challenged Luis Nani, which Sir Alex Ferguson wasn’t very happy about and he made sure that the referee and fourth official knew about it.

Second half and United should have really been 2-0 up when Berbatov played a one-two with Fletcher, Berbatov went to shoot but unfortunately he slipped and the chance had gone.

Football - Bolton Wanderers v Manchester United Barclays Premier LeagueWith 68 minutes on the clock, United had a second and looked to be heading back to the top of the table. Fletcher’s shot from 20 yards out was straight at Jaaskelainen, he should have either caught the ball or palmed it away, instead he blocked it, the ball fell to Berbatov who only had to tap the ball in.

Nine minutes later it was definitely game over after United scored a third. After some fantastic work by Nani down United’s left, he played the ball into the area and Berbatov flicked the ball past Jaaskelainen.


Four minutes later, United had their fourth. Darron Gibson had been brought on for Fletcher two minutes later; his first contribution was to score. Yet again Nani was causing trouble down the left, another ball into the area by him was sweetly struck by Gibson and went in off the bar.

The game finished 4-0, United showed that we aren’t a one-man team and we are back to the top of the table. Next up in the Premier League is Chelsea at Old Trafford, before that we have a Champions League match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

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