Robin van Persie ended his Manchester United goal drought as the Premier League leaders bounced back from derby defeat to extend their advantage over Manchester City to 15 points with a win at Stoke.
It was a solid, professional if unspectacular job from Sir Alex Fergusons men, who took an early lead from Michael Carrick after just three minutes, the Englishman prodding home a van Persie corner after confusion in the Stoke penalty area. United controlled the game and were rarely troubled from open play, finally putting the game to bed on 66 minutes when van Persie was fouled in the area by Andy Wilkinson and then converted the spot kick.
On a day difficult for football at The Britannia with a strong wind blowing through the open corners of the stadium, this was an impressive display from United, who edge nearer to their 20th league title. For Stoke however, this results deepens their relegation fears after their eighth game without a win in the Premier League. Now just three points clear of a Wigan team who have two games in hand, there must be serious concern for their Premier League survival. Manager Tony Pulis has called on his team to turn their fortunes around, saying “This is when you need characters and you need people to step up to the mark. We need to roll our sleeves up”.
Stoke have every chance of keeping survival in their own hands, with games to come against fellow strugglers QPR, Sunderland, Southampton and Norwich. However their recent run of form would suggest that they will enter most of those games as underdogs and so will need to find a spark from somewhere if they don’t want to find themselves as a Championship side next season.
