VIEWS FROM THE BROADSHEETS

THE INDIE

Whatever Chelsea may yet feel they can do about it, there is an ominous pattern developing at the top of the Premiership. For the second successive Saturday, Sir Alex Ferguson danced a grandfather's jig of delight and relief as his boys snatched an undeserved winning goal with just a couple of minutes to play; once again the central figure was Cristiano Ronaldo, the late scorer at Fulham last week, who set up John O'Shea this time to end all sorts of Liverpool records and leave the locals looking to Barcelona in the Champions' League this week for consolation.

There was a price to pay, Wayne Rooney suffering a knee injury and Paul Scholes' red card costing him a place in two Premiership games and Saturday's FA Cup tie at Middlesbrough. But three more points are securely in the bag and Manchester United must now believe the force is with them.

Stuttering every bit as much as in the less hostile confines of Craven Cottage, they failed to force a save from Jose Reina for 80 minutes, then caught him by surprise with added time about to be signalled.

Ryan Giggs drew a foul out on the left, Ronaldo whipped in one of his tantalising low free-kicks that the goalkeeper could not hold and O'Shea, who had replaced Rooney a quarter of an hour earlier, swept the ball into the roof of the net to prompt delirious celebrations. It was the first time Liverpool had conceded at home in the Premiership for 931 minutes, stretching back to October, and only the fourth all season - an extraordinary statistic considering that Arsenal put nine Cup goals past them in four days last month.

Their limitations are at the other end of the pitch, as was illustrated again in a game of few chances and disappointing quality. With both defences pushing up and Steven Gerrard reluctant to stay wide for very long, the midfield area would have benefited from congestion charging. Nobody on either side seemed able to keep the ball for long and although Craig Bellamy gave Nemanja Vidic a difficult afternoon, most of the better performers, like Jamie Carragher and Rio Ferdinand, were defenders.

Edwin van der Sar deserved a place on that list as well, if only for the one-handed save that denied another substitute, Peter Crouch. Sadly, however, Henrik Larsson had only the result for fond remembrance of his final Premiership game before returning to Sweden. He had made little contribution to it.

"Liverpool's pressing upset our rhythm and they were very unlucky," Ferguson admitted, offering a hint about how best to combat his team. "You need that bit of luck to win a championship and I think we've had that. It's a massive result." Rafael Benitez, asked to explain how Liverpool could have lost, said glumly: "In Spanish it would be difficult, in English more so."

Sir Alex Ferguson has just told Jose Mourinho to button his lip for suggesting that Manchester United have been enjoying all the luck this season. The Chelsea manager could easily retort by inviting him to rewatch this game. There would be no further questions.

When Mourinho says United have been lucky, he really means that Chelsea have been unlucky this season, which is true. What was true here is that United had long since settled for the point that would have suited both sides and were looking just to see out the game once injury had robbed them of Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes was dismissed for throwing a punch four minutes from time.

Down to 10 men, and with John O'Shea on as a hardly like-for-like substitute for Rooney, United were awarded a free-kick at the Kop end in stoppage time when Steve Finnan was judged guilty of tugging back Ryan Giggs. Cristiano Ronaldo sent in a fizzing cross cum shot that Jose Reina could only parry, the rebound fell to O'Shea and United were presented with an unlikely lead there was never any chance of them losing.

It had been obvious from the outset that this tight, tense affair was never going to be a goalfest. 'You need that bit of luck to win a championship,' Ferguson conceded, perhaps knowing that Mourinho would be listening. 'Liverpool played well today and their pressing game upset us. I think they were very unlucky, but that's football.'

Tell Rafa Benitez about it. 'It's difficult to explain how we lost, we had attacks, corners and free-kicks, whereas they were not doing all that much attacking,' the Liverpool manager said. 'But in football sometimes your luck goes like that. When you attack a lot and you cannot score, you start to think you'd better be careful.'

The Benitez analysis is essentially correct, when you consider that his substitute, Peter Crouch, was presented with the best chance of the afternoon with the game still scoreless just a minute before United's winner. Crouch could have met Dirk Kuyt's cross at the far post with his head; instead he tried to make sure by chesting the ball down and shooting, only to find he had given Edwin van der Sar time to compose himself for a save.

Apart from a scorching John Arne Riise shot from a free-kick that flew narrowly wide in the first half, however, Liverpool had fashioned few other clear-cut scoring opportunities, and though understandably the main consideration this week is Barcelona, Benitez needs to look at why so few of his team's attacks have an end product.

Part of the reason is Craig Bellamy, who showed on several occasions he could skip round Nemanja Vidic but failed to demonstrate any awareness of his colleagues once he had done so. Bellamy has never been the complete article, his finishing and distribution have always lagged behind his success rate at getting behind defences, and had he taken just a little more care when pulling a ball back from the byline he could have presented Kuyt with a goal after half an hour.

Benitez was correct, too, in saying United were not at their attacking best. Rooney and Henrik Larsson sounds all right as a partnership on paper, in reality they struggled to establish sufficient contact with the United midfield as well as each other. Scholes played well, before the rush of blood that persuaded him to take a swipe at Xabi Alonso under the referee's nose, though he played far too deep to play either of his strikers into dangerous area.

If there is one club that ought to be all silky smooth movement at this time of the season it is Manchester United, a side who always time their runs so that they do not reach championship pace until after Christmas. But just when they should be lengthening their stride in the Premiership title race, they are stumbling along at the top.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson, of course, can take as many stumbles like this as the Fates can throw at him, becoming the first side to win at Anfield in the league for 31 games, which extended their lead at the top to 12 points, albeit briefly. But, just as at Fulham last week, they were outplayed for much of the game and were again grateful for a last-minute winner, an effort that must have prompted a rewrite of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's team talk at Fratton Park last night.

Again, as at Fulham, United greeted the final whistle with celebrations that suggested they had already won the title, their players engaging in a love-in and running to take the applause of their supporters in a small corner of the ground. Even Wayne Rooney, who had come off with blood streaming down his leg, limped out bare-footed to enjoy the moment.

Ferguson complained some weeks ago that Chelsea had enjoyed huge amounts of luck in winning two successive titles. But after committing grand larceny twice in seven days that may have decided the championship, he can have no further cause for complaints.

"Unbelievable" was the verdict of Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, who added: "Sometimes in football, it is just luck." Ferguson, to his credit, agreed, saying: "Liverpool were very unlucky to lose, but that is a massive result for us."

If it was one that all but tied a big red ribbon around the Barclays Premiership trophy, the day also offered hope to Chelsea that United might yet be caught. Not just because of their poor form, but because of a knee injury to Rooney and the sending off of Paul Scholes for throwing a punch at Xabi Alonso, which rules him out of the next three games.

With United still fighting for honours on three fronts, they cannot afford to be without such influential players for too long and they will not know the extent of Rooney's injury until this morning.

Although Liverpool did more than enough to win the game in the second half, Champions League dates should perhaps be factored into the Premiership fixture computer so that teams such as these can play one another with their minds totally focused, rather than with an eye on their massive European games in midweek.

If the first half was truly forgettable, Liverpool raised the pace and the temperature after the break with Craig Bellamy, laughingly portrayed in one newspaper this week as a lovable little scamp, for once causing trouble for opposing players rather than his team.

He was the only Liverpool player to get the ball in the net, though it was ruled out for offside, and he also excitedly rolled a ball across the face of the goal which Dirk Kuyt almost retrieved. As Liverpool pressed, United lost both their rhythm and composure, not that they had much to start with.

Ferguson, hopping mad on the touchline, sent on Louis Saha for the anonymous Henrik Larsson, for whom this was a sad end to his brief Premiership career, and within minutes, he was forced to summon the fourth official to make another change. Rooney was hurt by a thigh-high challenge from Jamie Carragher and a second tackle immediately afterwards by Momo Sissoko.

Ronaldo's skipping feet had offered the only attacking potential for United, although Carragher denied Rooney with a sumptuous first-half interception. Ronaldo, often derided as a luxury player, also put in his time in the trenches with his team under so much pressure for so long. In fact, his was the last kick of the match, a clearance from the near post from a Liverpool corner.

Cue Liverpool disbelief, United pandemonium, Ferguson delight. The bottom line for his team, who have only nine games to go, is that they can now afford to lose at Stamford Bridge, their last remaining big challenge of the season, and still have a comfortable cushion.

SUNDAY TIMES

Wayne Rooney offered just one comment: "It's so sweet." Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, looked like he was sucking something sour. After a northwest derby that began blandly but became infused with its usual flavours of controversy and drama, the Premiership was left to digest a result that makes Manchester United strong favourites to win a ninth title under Sir Alex Ferguson.

His side won 1-0 with a goal from substitute John O'Shea in the second of four minutes of stoppage time. It came from a disputed free kick when Steve Finnan was adjudged to have held on to Ryan Giggs, who was playing his 700th game for United, and arrived after the visitors had been reduced to 10 men when Paul Scholes was sent off for aiming a right hook at Xabi Alonso in the 85th minute. Edwin van der Sar had also just produced one of the saves of the season to deny Peter Crouch from scoring for Liverpool and O'Shea himself was only on the pitch because somebody had to replace Rooney when the England striker sustained a knee injury, the seriousness of which will be gauged by a scan today.

The overall unlikeliness of the chain of events behind their victory, and the importance of the three points, which leave United just seven wins from securing the title, saw Ferguson and his players allowing themselves to voice, for the first time, feelings that this is their year. "They [Liverpool] will be feeling very unlucky today and they were. We broke away in the last couple of minutes last week to score [against Fulham] and we did it again today. You need that bit of luck to win championships," said Ferguson.

Though the result briefly extended United's lead to 12 points, Ferguson was sufficiently cautious not to dismiss Chelsea's chances of overhauling his team. "I don't think anything's impossible in modern-day football and we experienced it in 1998," he said, referring to United's loss of the title to Arsenal having enjoyed a similar points advantage. However, he added: "We've got a much stronger squad now."

Benitez called United's victory "unbelievable" given Liverpool's dominance of second-half play. "In Spanish it would be difficult for me to explain; in English even more so," he said.

O'Shea hailed his goal as "definitely the most important of my career", although the statement did not have the same ring as if it were his prolific teammate Henrik Larsson making it.

Other contentious moments in the game included United being refuseda penalty when Daniel Agger tripped Louis Saha and a Craig Bellamy goal for Liverpool being ruled offside but, the result apart, Scholes's red card, which will mean a ban of at least three matches for violent conduct, was the main talking point. Ferguson refused to defend his player, saying: "He lifted his hands and you can't do that. The referee got it right in terms of intent."

So Jose Mourinho was right all along. Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to admit last night that the luck is running Manchester United's way, and that by winning a match in which they were second best throughout, the Premiership leaders had taken a "massive" step towards regaining the title they last held four years ago.

Liverpool have yet to beat United in the league under Rafael Benitez's management, and must feel they are fated never to do so. They are unlikely ever to have a better chance and, bitterly disappointed by John O'Shea's stoppage-time winner, they will need some lifting for the second leg of their Champions League tie at home to Barcelona on Tuesday.

Benitez is fortunate that the occasion alone should be enough to do that. United, to collective disbelief, won the game with 10 men with the only attempt they had on target, O'Shea stabbing the ball home at close range after Jose Reina had failed to hold Cristiano Ronaldo's driven free kick from the left. It was the first Premiership goal Liverpool had conceded at Anfield since the end of October and their first defeat at home in 31 games.

The dismissal of Paul Scholes after 86 minutes, for an attempted slap at Xabi Alonso, was irrelevant to the outcome, but its consequence was of some concern to Ferguson, who will now be without one of his best midfielders for three games — two in the Premiership and the FA Cup quarter-final against Middlesbrough. A further worry for United was the withdrawal of Wayne Rooney in the second half with a knee injury that will be scanned today. Nevertheless, Ferguson was smiling after a result which he described as "massive for us". In an assessment that also took in last week's fortuitous 2-1 win at Fulham, he said: "You need that bit of luck to win the title, and we've had that in the last two games."

Benitez found it "impossible" to explain the outcome. Liverpool had a "goal" by Craig Bellamy disallowed because of an involuntary touch by Momo Sissoko and should have scored two minutes before O'Shea did so, when Peter Crouch, on as a substitute, wasted an inviting chance at the far post, electing to chest the ball down and shoot when a header was the obvious requirement. Edwin van der Sar made an outstanding save, going to his left, to keep out the shot, but was given the opportunity to show his agility by Crouch taking two touches when one was needed.

Liverpool dominated possession but should have made more from it. Their failure to do so was down to a mixture of outstanding defensive work by Rio Ferdinand, for once eclipsing his partner, Nemanja Vidic, and the shortcomings of Dirk Kuyt, Bellamy and Crouch. United might have had a penalty after 78 minutes, when Daniel Agger tripped Louis Saha, but they opted not to complain and push their luck. "Liverpool were fantastic and we had some narrow escapes," Ferguson said.

Much was made beforehand of the enmity between these two old rivals, but for a long time it was small pie and mash by comparison with last Sunday's all-London scrap in the Carling Cup final. Any similarity was delayed until the 86th minute when Scholes, like Emmanuel Adebayor in Cardiff, was deemed to have struck an opponent, in this case Alonso, after a "handbags" scuffle. Like the Arsenal striker, Scholes made no contact, but the combative former England man had raised his hands in anger, and Martin Atkinson, a late replacement for Graham Poll as referee, had no option but to produce the red card. Ferguson agreed with the decision, saying: "He had to go."

A skip, a clenching of fists, a sequence of little twirls and jumps, the whole routine pitched somewhere between a lottery player rising with a winning ticket from their sofa and a tramp waltzing tipsily on a Glasgow street. It was witnessed long before he took over at Manchester United - on the night 23 years ago, for instance, Aberdeen won the European Cup Winners' Cup. It is the dance Sir Alex Ferguson reserves for very special victories.

Life was so good for Ferguson yesterday that, for the first time in Merseyside memories, he felt sufficiently magnanimous to profess sympathy for Liverpool, who he said were "very unlucky". On top of United beating their most bitter rivals and taking a stride towards the title in the stadium Ferguson will forever associate with the Scouse gloating that occurred when they lost it there in 1992, there was an extra source of satisfaction: proving Arsãne Wenger wrong.

It was Wenger who, after Arsenal defeated United with two goals at the death in the Emirates Stadium, suggested a fatal weakness had been exposed, namely that Ferguson's players lacked the conditioning levels to compete at the end of games.

"United are always different after 70 minutes," is what Mathieu Flamini said Wenger had told the Arsenal players. Ferguson was furious, but his nemesis did seem to have evidence. United had also lost to Celtic and FC Copenhagen late on.

Now those defeats can be seen as a blip. Ten men, stoppage time, severely pressured - and then you break upfield, win a free kick, and a substitute with no scoring record to speak of reaches into the embers of the game and glory is grabbed. Who did you think you were kidding, Monsieur Wenger?