Wayne Rooney scored his 100th Premier League goal on Sunday as Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-1 to subdue a title rival while maintaining the pressure on leader Chelsea.
While Rooney claimed the goals milestone, the blistering pace of Nani was the key ingredient to securing United’s third straight win.
The opener came after 33 minutes when Nani stormed down the right and goalkeeper Manuel Almunia palmed in his cross when trying to swat it away. Nani was the provider again four minutes later, squaring for Rooney to score.
PHOTO: EPA
Any hopes of an Arsenal comeback were ended when Park Ji-sung scored seven minutes into the second half, although Thomas Vermaelen scored a late consolation goal.
United ended the weekend a point behind Chelsea, who have a game in hand, but four ahead of Arsenal.
“It’s that time of year when we really need to kick on,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “We need Chelsea to drop points. Arsenal are not out of it, I hope Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge [on Sunday] and batter them.”
For the first goal Nani skipped past two Arsenal defenders before cutting past Cesc Fabregas and raising the ball toward the far post, where Park was lurking, only to see Almunia tip it into his own net.
Arsenal tried to provide an immediate response, but after Fabregas’ shot was blocked, United launched an electric counterattack.
Rooney picked up the ball inside his own half and galloped forward before feeding Nani, who returned the ball for the England striker to claim his 22nd goal of the season.
The third goal came when Michael Carrick chipped the ball forward to Park who beat Almunia.
Arsenal pulled one back in the 80th when Vermaelen’s diving scissors kick took a deflection off United’s Jonny Evans.
Meanwhile, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was pleased with his side’s 2-0 win over Portsmouth at Eastlands on Sunday but admitted his side had been under-par.
Goals by Emmanuel Adebayor and Vincent Kompany secured the three points for City but there was precious little else to cheer about in a match that never really got off the ground.
Adebayor had not started for his club since returning home early from the African Cup of Nations last month following the terrifying gun assault on the Togo team bus in Cabinda that left two backroom staff dead.
However, he told City manager Roberto Mancini on Saturday that he felt mentally strong enough to start the match and rewarded his manager’s faith with a 40th minute opener while Kompany found a second with a header five minutes later.
As City’s players left the pitch at the end of the match, three players — Nigel de Jong, Carlos Tevez and Stephen Ireland — sported T-shirts with the slogan “Team Bridge” on them.
These were in support of injured teammate Wayne Bridge after recent revelations that Bridge’s former Chelsea teammate and best friend John Terry has allegedly been cheating on his wife with Bridge’s ex-girlfriend.
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