Wayne Rooney was passed fit and started for United, whilst Rio Ferdinand had to make do with a place on the bench, alongside Owen Hargreaves.
Manchester United started the brighter team only minutes in Rooney forced a save out of Craig Gordon and Ryan Giggs saw his follow-up effort deflected away by Phil Bardsley.
United were in control of the game most of the time, and had many great chances, most of which fell to Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov. Some of the opportunities he missed were unbelievable, one of which, it was easier to score than miss.
Berbatov had one of those matches, again. He’s a striker who is low on confidence and that really showed, which is a shame because he wasn’t too bad last weekend.
Alongside him, Rooney didn’t have the best of games but although he wasn’t on top form. He did put in the effort and you could tell he was trying but you don’t expect him to come back 100% fit after being out for a bit.
One of Sunderland’s best goal attempts came in the first half from Steed Malbranque, who hit a 20-yard cracker, which forced a great save out of Edwin Van Der Sar. Not long before that, Giggs had hit the woodwork.
Paul Scholes did brilliantly throughout; he’s really impressed again over the past few weeks. At one point during the season there was talk that this could be his final season, he’s now signed a new contract and is playing well.
During the second half Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney and Fletcher were all involved in the build up play, which led to the only goal of the game. Luis Nani received the ball from Fletcher and was able to fire the ball into the far corner of the goal.
Sir Alex Ferguson brought on Owen Hargreaves just before the full time whistle went.
He was on the field for 30 seconds at the most, he didn’t have time to do anything but it was great to see him back. Hopefully we can see a bit more of him next Sunday at Old Trafford against Stoke.
There may still be one game left with Wigan travelling down to play Chelsea and United facing Stoke but I’m not optimistic, you never know with football but I believe it’s over.
