Manchester United 4-4 Everton
Wow. What a game at Old Trafford. And at the end of it all, Manchester United might just have handed the title initiative over to their bitter rivals.
Eight goals – some of them absolute belters – two two-goal leads thrown away by the Champions, some comical defending, this game really had it all and is probably the best seen in the Premier League all season.
In terms of significance, it hands the edge in the title race back to Manchester City, who will overtake United should they progress through the inevitable cakewalk against Wolves later this afternoon and beat United in what is now going to be an unmissable Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium on Monday week.
United only have themselves to blame for putting themselves into such a position. Extremely lethargic at the start, they deservedly fell behind to a Nikica Jelavic header midway through the first half and were fortunate to be level at the break after Wayne Rooney nodded in a brilliant Nani cross.
Obviously given the hairdryer treatment at the break, the hosts were far better in the second period and took the lead through a beautiful Danny Welbeck strike after 57 minutes.
Three minutes later, it looked as if the game was done and dusted when Welbeck put Nani in to chip it over the onrushing Tim Howard. With United seemingly cruising, Marouane Fellaini put the cat amongst the pigeons with a cracking volley after Tony Hibbert crossed from the right side.
Some lovely interplay between Rooney and Welbeck allowed Rooney to restore United’s two-goal advantage after 69 minutes and it looked for all the world as if they would go on to see the game out.
But then, this wasn’t any normal game. After 83 minutes, Jelavic tucked away a lovely effort into the bottom corner after Fellaini caused havoc in the United penalty area and before United even had time to deal with that shock, Steven Pienaar added another two minutes later to level it at four apiece.
Tim Howard made a spectacular save from Rio Ferdinand right at the death, but it stayed at 4-4 for a result that is a huge blow to United’s hopes of regaining the title and was no more than Everton deserved.
This title race has taken so many twists and turns that it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Wolves caused some sort of upset against Manchester City, but given City’s form and Wolves’ freefall of late, that scenario seems highly unlikely.
If all goes as expected then, it will all come down to the Etihad on the last day of April for what should be a mouthwatering affair.
Title race over? Not on your life.
