United settle for second despite winning finish

Manchester United’s bid for an unprecedented fourth successive Premier League title ended in failure despite a 4-0 victory over Stoke at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Requiring a dramatic final twist to the most unpredictable of seasons, United would only have retained the title if they had defeated Stoke and lowly Wigan had produced a shock win at leaders Chelsea.

But although goals by Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs, Park Ji-Sung and a Danny Higginbotham own goal saw off Stoke, it wasn’t enough as Chelsea’s crushing 8-0 win over Wigan meant United finished runners-up, one point behind the Blues.

United ultimately paid the price for losing control of the title race, with last month’s home defeat to Chelsea and the subsequent draw at Blackburn the results that ended up costing them their crown.

Three of United’s Premier League titles have been won on the last day of the season, but on each occasion Sir Alex Ferguson’s men were in the driving seat.

But there was to be no drama this time, not once word reached Old Trafford that Chelsea had taken an early lead.

Around the same time as Nicolas Anelka’s sixth-minute goal put the champions-in-waiting ahead, Dimitar Berbatov was spurning the first of three first-half chances that fell the Bulgarian’s way.

It has been that kind of season for United and no-one has felt the frustration more than Berbatov.

The former Tottenham striker has struggled to live up to his 30.75 million pounds (35.7 million euros) transfer fee and struggled to fill the void when Wayne Rooney was injured at a crucial stage of the campaign.

His failure to convert Nani’s inch-perfect 11th-minute cross summed up his campaign while Rooney headed narrowly over in the 23rd minute.

It was left to midfielder Fletcher to break the deadlock, the Scottish international pouncing from inside the six-yard area after Stoke had failed to clear a 31st-minute corner.

Seven minutes later Giggs doubled the lead with a composed finish after clever work by Berbatov yet, with Chelsea in control against Wigan, the atmosphere was subdued.

Stoke’s season has been another of steady improvement. Having surpassed the 45 points they registered last term with a 1-0 victory against Fulham last Wednesday, they arrived in Manchester with hopes of finishing as high as ninth if results went their way.

Despite the impressive efforts of Robert Huth in defence, they never looked like getting anything here.

They fell 3-0 behind in the 54th minute when Higginbotham put past his own keeper after trying to stop Rooney’s low cross from reaching Nani.

Stoke kept plugging away and almost reduced the deficit when Matthew Etherington’s 74th-minute cross was met by Rory Delap.

However, Edwin van der Sar produced a stunning full-length save to ensure United brought the curtain down on a disappointing season with a clean sheet victory.

United still found time to add a fourth goal the 84th minute, Park scoring with a diving header less than 10 minutes after replacing England striker Rooney, who looked as though he could have picked up an injury.

But it was too little, too late as far as the title was concerned, thousands of United fans having already left the ground by the time referee Mark Clattenburg blew the final whistle.