Manchester United may have to wait a little longer to reclaim the Premier league title after being held to a 2-2 draw at West Ham, while Manchester City won 1-0 against Wigan.
Alex Ferguson’s team were below their best for long periods at Upton Park on Wednesday and needed Robin van Persie’s late strike to rescue a point. Second placed City took advantage of United’s slip, with Carlos Tevez netting the winner in their FA Cup final rehearsal at Eastlands.
That allowed the champions to close the gap on the leaders to 13 points, meaning Ferguson’s club can only win their 20th title in the next round of fixtures if City lose at Tottenham on Sunday and United beat Aston Villa on Monday. “We had to stand up to a lot, we went down twice but we kept going. We played like champions tonight,” Ferguson said. “It’s one more game away, that’s five left. We’re determined to win, we don’t like losing and they showed that tonight again.”
It was Sam Allardyce’s team who looked more motivated in the early stages and they took the lead in the 16th minute. Andy Carroll met Matt Jarvis’s cross with a header down to Ricardo Vaz Te and the striker headed in from close-range for his first goal since October.
Ferguson’s team drew level in the 31st minute when Shinji Kagawa skipped through the Hammers defence and crossed for Antonio Valencia to tap in his first goal of the season.