A great weekend for United in the title race was wrapped up when rivals Chelsea lost 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening, followed by an amazing 3-2 defeat for Arsenal at Wigan Athletic on Sunday afternoon.

The damage to Chelsea was done in the first half when Jermain Defoe punished John Terry's handball by firing a penalty past Petr Cech and then Gareth Bale scored a brilliant second goal to make it 2-0 to on-song Spurs. Frank Lampard pulled a goal back for Chelsea in second-half injury time but it was too little, too late for the below-par league leaders.

It was poetic justice, perhaps, that Terry's use of the arm was spotted by referee Phil Dowd - he was fortunate not to concede a penalty in similar circumstances when the Blues unconvincingly beat Bolton 1-0 in midweek. Worse was to follow for Terry at Tottenham - he was sent off in the 67th minute after two bookable offences.