THE INDIE - SAHA AND VAN NISTELROOY GLIMPSE HEELS OF CHELSEA
For months, Sir Alex Ferguson has been an isolated voice crying against the wind of conventional wisdom. Manchester United can catch Chelsea, he insisted, to much mirth outside the rose-tinted environs of Old Trafford. Who is laughing now?
This victory accelerates United to within seven points of the erstwhile runaway Premiership leaders, and as they have to play at Stamford Bridge at the end of the month, the impossible pursuit has suddenly improved to the improbable. To gauge their momentum, this time last week they were 15 points adrift.
United threw down the gauntlet with their eighth successive League win on the day Chelsea were held at Birmingham, and, to make the success even sweeter for Ferguson, his selection policy was thoroughly vindicated. Louis Saha, preferred again ahead of Ruud van Nistelrooy, got his 14th goal of the season and Van Nistelrooy came off the bench to get the winner with 11 minutes remaining.
United now can at least glimpse Chelsea's coat-tails while Bolton, after successive defeats, are losing sight of the fourth place and qualification for the Champions' League.
Bolton took the lead through Kevin Davies after 26 minutes only to be overwhelmed by the pace and movement of the resurgent visitors. "It was an important win for us," a beaming Ferguson said. "We have a massive game against Arsenal next week. They are playing well, we're playing well and it should be a fantastic match. If we can get over that hurdle we'll have a chance. We're catching Chelsea, we have to hope the finishing line does not come too soon.''
After Wayne Rooney had twice had chances elude him and Ryan Giggs had a rare right- foot drive saved by the excellent Jussi Jaaskelainen after 16 minutes, Bolton roughly grabbed hold of the game by taking the lead with a goal that was splendidly taken even if it was ushered on its way by defensive lapses. Nemanja Vidic was beaten to a header and Rio Ferdinand made a powder-puff attempt to tackle, but Kevin Nolan's pass was clever and Davies's finish the epitome of cool as he side-footed past Edwin van der Sar.
OBSERVER - RUUD INTERVENTION REVIVES TITLE RACE
Game on, and not just in the battle between Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha as to who is the Alpha male in the United goalscoring stable. Of far more relevance to the football public at large is a Premiership title race that implausibly, magnificently, is now officially back on after a Van Nistelrooy winner, set up by Saha 11 minutes from time, allowed Manchester United to cut Chelsea's lead at the top of the table to seven points.
burst into life as Saha gathered John O'Shea's long pass, pulling the ball back from the byline to present his Dutch team-mate and rival with a simple, open-goal conversion. But the more relevant statistics are that this marked an eighth consecutive league win by a rampant United and one of those remaining half-dozen fixtures is the penultimate game of the season when they visit Stamford Bridge.
To give the current state of affairs some context, over the last six games, United have pegged back five points on the runaway leaders. If the old animosity between these two Greater Manchester rivals still lingers among supporters, there is nothing to suggest that relations between the two dressing rooms is anything but harmonious. The respective managers, indeed, set the tone before the game with Sir Alex Ferguson claiming Sam Allardyce should be the next England manager and Big Sam, in turn, describing the United veteran as his 'hero'.
It was a mutual love-in that, while not exactly extending to the attitude between the teams on the field, did not do much to generate the sort of atmosphere normally associated with this fixture. Not that the stakes were insignificant, especially as the game kicked off minutes after Chelsea's latest shaky performance ended in a draw at Birmingham. Bolton, for their part, defended a 13- game unbeaten run at the Reebok aware that they have little margin for error remaining if they are to finish in fourth place and secure an improbable place in next season's Champions League.
Unfortunately for home nerves, they seemed to produce errors in abundance early on, particularly with some poor defending from a series of dangerous United corners and it took a stunning double save from Jussi Jaaskelainen after a quarter of an hour to maintain the stalemate. Bruno N'Gotty's headed clearance from a Gary Neville centre fell invitingly for Ryan Giggs whose shot was well saved before the rebound sat up perfectly for Cristiano Ronaldo who was similarly denied.
Given United's recent run of league victories and the understandable rise in confidence that has attended that sequence of results, a goal at that point might have settled the outcome. Instead, United produced a timely reminder of why they have trailed Chelsea by so much this season: a terrible piece of defending that presented Kevin Davies with a 28th-minute opening goal.
SUNDAY TIMES - RUUD GIVES UNITED HOPE
Sometimes it's a numbers game. Whatever happens, this match will go into the annals as the one where Ruud van Nistelrooy became only the eighth man to score 150 Manchester United goals. What might it come to mean when the narrative of this season is completed? Chelsea's lead at the top, which once swelled to 17 points, is down to a suddenly trim seven. What's "squeaky bum time" in Portuguese?
United's sequence of eight consecutive Premiership wins is their best in four years. Their run could come to nothing but at least Roman Abramovich is now getting one for his money. After watching Chelsea's lunchtime draw, it would have been criminal not to take advantage and on a difficult pitch, against a drilled and determined Bolton, Ferguson's side managed to produce some fluent, expansive attacking, withstood going behind, and got what the manager dubbed "probably our best result of the season".
With Bolton also positive the game, in the late stages particularly, had the verve of a cup-tie and Van Nistelrooy's decisive strike came when Ferguson was playing four up front and Sam Allardyce three. John O'Shea stroked a pass inside Nicky Hunt and Louis Saha, beating Bolton's offside line with deadly results for a second time in the afternoon, squared for Van Nistelrooy to sidefoot home. Van Nistelrooy had already looked sharp and Ferguson will read the striker's intent when introduced as a substitute as vindication of the treat-'em-mean-keep-'em-keen policy that saw him return the Dutchman to the bench. Van Nistelrooy may have felt he had won back his place after starting instead of Saha and scoring against West Ham, but if he is to do so again it surely cannot be in place of Saha, who carried menace with every step and equalised Kevin Davies's opener dazzlingly.
Ferguson's reasons for choosing the Saha-Wayne Rooney partnership were evident. Saha's pace meant Bolton always had to guard against balls over the top, forcing Bruno N'Gotty and Co back, while Rooney was pulling them in the other direction, dropping deep. Cristiano Ronaldo fooled Henrik Pedersen with some contortions, his early cross was dummied by Saha, only for Rooney to misread the situation and let the ball bounce off him.
Saha's sole blemish was missing the ball with his head after doing the hard part in escaping his marker at a corner. His goal, however, was supreme. Bending his run along Bolton's defensive line, Saha ensured N'Gotty kept him onside and Joey O'Brien was disoriented in the face of such movement, rooted while Saha moved on to Mikael Silvestre's through pass. Though toppling over to get to the ball ahead of Jussi Jaaskelainen, Saha was still able to flash out his left foot and make perfect contact with the outside of his boot to arc the ball past the goalkeeper.
TELEGRAPH - VAN NISTELROOY KEEPS TITLE RACE ALIVE
Jose Mourinho may be reluctant to acknowledge as much, but the Premiership title contest could well be back on. Manchester United evidently believe so after coming from behind to climb within seven points of Chelsea.
Sir Alex Ferguson's touchline prowl betrayed his anxiety as United strained every sinew for a late winner. The United manager was positively apoplectic when substitute Ruud van Nistelrooy fell under a challenge from Tal Ben Haim and the referee was unmoved by cries for a penalty.
But Ferguson and his cohorts were jigging for joy 11 minutes from the end as his team sliced open the Bolton defence for Van Nistelrooy to secure United's eighth consecutive win. The Dutchman had again been left on the bench and Louis Saha again justified the decision with a glorious equaliser after Kevin Davies had given Bolton the lead against the run of play.
United ought to have spared themselves the late frenzy. Darren Fletcher and Wayne Rooney were thwarted by Jussi Jaaskelainen after 10 minutes and the England striker miscontrolled after Saha's dummy left him in the clear.
Jaaskelainen also made an excellent double save from Ryan Giggs and Rooney and the United players ribbed Rio Ferdinand for an air shot when he found himself in unfamiliar territory.
But Bolton went ahead in the 26th minute when Kevin Nolan played a short pass to Davies, who nutmegged the embarrassed Ferdinand and calmly placed the ball past Edwin van der Sar.
Bolton held the lead for barely six minutes. Mikael Silvestre, having one of his eccentric days defensively, advanced down the left to roll a return pass inside Joey O'Brien for Saha. The striker judged his run perfectly and, using the outside of his left foot, bent a shot around Jaaskelainen and just inside the far post.
Jay-Jay Okocha was a man on a mission in the second half, unleashing three shots from distance. Two fizzed wide but Van der Sar had to react smartly to beat away the pick of the trio.
The much-maligned Fletcher worked tirelessly to fill the gaps for United but was sacrificed just after the hour to make way for Van Nistelrooy. Giggs switched to midfield and Rooney to the left.
Just like a game of basketball, play moved swiftly from one end to the other. Cristiano Ronaldo delivered the centre that Van Nistelrooy attempted to meet when he collided with Ben Haim. Ferguson was still seething as Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo created an opening for Saha which Jaaskelainen smothered.
Van Nistelrooy lobbed the ball over the bar and shot straight at the Bolton goalkeeper before registering his crucial, 150th goal for United.