Arch-rivals Super Sunday, Liverpool’s Old Trafford triumph Manchester United was destroyed, Gunners victory of North London Derby.

Manchester United 0 Liverpool 3 :Gerrard leding Reds crash United Moyes in flames

When Liverpool leave Old Trafford disappointed they have only scored three, then it tells you everything about the respective strengths of English football’s most bitter rivals.

While Brendan Rodgers ‘ team embellished their credentials to be considered genuine title contenders, Manchester United’s decline is becoming more alarmingly apparent every time they play opponents of any note.

It is one win now in 12 games against the top nine and if United drop one more point this season – as seems very likely – they will finish with their lowest ever points tally in a Premier League campaign.

And a miserable first season in charge for Moyes could plunge to new depths in the next nine days.

If they perform as abjectly as they did yesterday, there seems little chance of them retrieving a 2-0 deficit against Olympiakos and avoiding a Champions League exit against the weakest side left in the last 16 of the competition.

Then, after a trip to West Ham, they face neighbours Manchester City who have the title bit very much back between their teeth after Chelsea’s defeat at Aston Villa.

Two more adverse results in those games and United’s hierarchy – let alone the fans – will be asking serious questions whether Moyes is the man to be entrusted with a transfer war chest of up to £200m this summer to turn round their fortunes.

Yes, Liverpool’s first two goals were penalties yesterday – both converted by their captain Steve Gerrard – but not even the most partisan United fans could argue their bitter rivals were not three goals better.

The fact is they could have won by five. Gerrard squandered a hat-trick of penalties by striking a third spot kick against a post while only an acrobatic save by David De Gea stopped Luis Saurez from scoring near the end.

The only black spot for Liverpool was Daniel Sturridge’s blatant dive that not only earned Liverpool that third penalty but also resulted in Nemanja Vidic’s his fourth red card against the Merseyside club.

In 19 previous games referee Mark Clattenburg had never awarded a penalty against United but, such is Moyes’ cursed luck, he made up for last time yesterday.

It summed up United’s wretched day that after initially moving Michael Carrick into the back four, Moyes was forced to send on Rio Ferdinand for Juan Mata three minutes from time in a bid for damage limitation with Liverpool threatening to further embarrass his side in the final moments.

Liverpool’s imperious performance goes some way to explaining the remarkable 43-point swing in their favour since the same stage last season when United finished champions. But it doesn’t explain – and Moyes could not come up with the answers either after the game – why United are suddenly so devoid of ideas and their old swagger.

Liverpool were simply better in every department. They were slicker, sharper and penetrated the home defence almost at will while United struggled to create chances and Simon Mignolet had to make only one save in the entire game – from Wayne Rooney.

The only complaint Moyes could have about the first two penalties was what on earth his players were doing to concede them.

Instead of keeping his arms down by his side, Rafael inexplicably stuck out his right hand and handled the ball as Suarez turned past him. He was just lucky that Clattenburg did not send him off because only moments before he had been cautioned for a reckless tackle on Gerrard.

When Gerrard sent De Gea the wrong way from the penalty it took Liverpool’s tally of first half goals to 48 this season – two more than United have managed in total.

If Moyes had galvanised his troops at half-time, they had no chance to put the plan into action because only 30 seconds had elapsed Phil Jones threw himself into an unnecessary challenge in an attempt to clear Jordan Henderson’s pass and barged over Joe Allen in the process.

Allen was running away from goal so Jones simply needed to stay on his feet. Again Gerrard stepped forward to send De Gea the wrong way and United faced not so much a fight to save the game but also their pride.

They did neither and the only surprise was that their fans stayed behind them to the end.

Marounae Fellaini blazed their only clear opening high over the bar and perhaps the biggest worry for Moyes is that his much-vaunted strike triumvirate of Rooney, Mata and Robin Van Persie are just not working out.

Wayne Rooney confessed afterwards it was one of his worst days in football. The worry for United is just how bad this season going to end up. Liverpool winning their first title for 24 years is the least of their problems.

Manchester United vs Liverpool Match Stats

Man Utd: De Gea 6, Rafael 5, Jones 5, Vidic 5, Evra 5.5, Fellaini  5 (Cleverley 76, 6), Carrick 5, Mata 4.5 (Ferdinand 87), Rooney 4.5, Januzaj 5 (Welbeck 76), Van Persie 4.5.

Subs: Lindegaard, Young, Valencia, Kagawa.

Booked: Rafael, Vidic.

Sent off: Vidic

Liverpool: Mignolet 7, Johnson 7, Skrtel 8, Agger 7.5, Flanagan 7.5, Henderson 7.5, Gerrard 8.5 (Lucas 87), Allen 8, Sterling 6 (Coutinho 72, 6), Sturridge 8, (Aspas 90), Suarez 8.

Subs: Jones, Moses, Sakho, Cissokho.

Booked: Flanagan, Gerrard, Skrtel, Sturridge

Goals: Gerrard pen 34, pen 46, Suarez 84

Man of the match: Steven Gerrard

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)

Manchester United 0 Liverpool 3 Match Video

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Tottenham 0 Arsenal 1:Hopeless Arsenal beat Arch-Rival

“It is a derby and we know the derby is for winning,” he said.

There seemed to be something more significant than the acquisition of three points about the way the Arsenal fans remained behind en masse to celebrate another derby win and receive the appreciation of their heroes.

Nobody, though, was getting far enough carried away to think this is any sort of mission accomplished, of course.

A glance at the fixture list and the prospect of a visit to Chelsea next week is enough to keep any of those thoughts at bay.

But Arsene Wenger can go to Stamford Bridge knowing that because they still have to play both Jose Mourinho’s side and Manchester City, to a large degree their hopes of ending a 10-year wait for the title in their own hands.

All he can hope for is another slice of magic like the one Tomas Rosicky produced after just 72 seconds of yesterday’s kick-off.

“I think that was definitely one of the best goals I have scored,” the Czech Republic winger said. “I am delighted by a goal like that but the most important thing is that we won the game.

“After the ball bounced back to me I just wanted to hit it. I was aiming for the far post but I just wanted to hit it. Luckily it went in.”

Of course, next week’s game will be Arsene Wenger’s 1,000th. The 64-year-old is far from putting together any scrapbooks to mark the milestone, but if he were to then Rosicky’s thunderous shot from the right-edge of the penalty area would certainly find a place.

“It will go in my collection of great goals,” he said. “I told Tomas that, because first of all he is not a typical goalscorer. He surprised everyone.

“We had no time to even realise what he was doing and it was in the back of the net. It was an unbelievable goal.

“Top five? My memory is not big enough to collect them all in one go but it’s one of the top goals we scored this season.” From that moment on, Arsenal were as outplayed as they have been by anybody in the Premier League this season.

But while Tottenham had an unprecedented 59 per cent of possession, the could not find away past Arsenal’s stalwart defence.

Arsenal, in fact, had the next best chance – a break from the halfway line by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that sadly only led to a badly-fluffed lob.

Emmanuel Adebayor seemed determined to unsettle his former club to the full extent of his ability but even with that weapon at their disposal, Tottenham managed only two shot on target – the last a desperate final curler which Wojciech Szczesny clung resolutely on to.

“It is a huge result,” Wenger said. “We were under pressure to win and it was a very important game. We got the early goal and after that it was a bit of a mixture. The early goal influenced the way we played too much. We missed a second goal and after that we wanted to protect the lead and we were under pressure.

“They were absolutely up for it and we needed some special resilience to get away with it. For us it’s three massive points.

“It gets us a bit it closer to Chelsea and makes the game next week even more interesting. We’re back to four points with a game in hand and we have played two away games on the trot. So we have five games at home. We’ll see. But it makes the next game a very big one.”

And none come bigger than top-of-the-table Chelsea. Technically a derby. So technically, as Koscielny would have it, for winning.

“We are against direct rivals,” Wenger said. “We just came out of three big games against Everton, Bayern and today without losing. Mentally every time you need to be absolutely focused.”

More so than in their often-flaky past, Arsenal really seem to be.

Tottenham vs Arsenal Match Stats

Tottenham: Lloris 6, Naughton 6, Kaboul 6, Vertonghen 6.5, Rose 5.5, Chadli 6 (Sigurdsson 69mins, 6), Sandro 5.5 (Paulinho 68mins, 6), Eriksen 6 (Soldado 82mins, 6), Bentaleb 5, Townsend 6, Adebayor 5.5

Subs: Friedel, Kane, Walker, Lennon

Booked: Chadli, Sandro, Vertonghen, Soldado, Rose

Manager: Tim Sherwood 5

Arsenal: Szczesny 6.5, Sagna 6.5, Mertesacker 8, Koscielny 7, Gibbs 7, Rosicky 7.5 (Flamini 69mins, 6), Arteta 7, Oxlade-Chamberlain 7.5 (Vermaelen 85mins, 6), Cazorla 6, Podolski 6.5, (Monreal 77mins, 6), Giroud 5.5

Subs: Fabianski, Sanogo, Jenkinson, Gnabry

Booked: Sagna, Gibbs, Flamini

Goals: Rosicky 2

Manager: Arsene Wenger 7

Man of the Match: Mertesacker

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

Tottenham 0 Arsenal 1 Match Video

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English Premier League Match Week 30 Results

Saturday, 15 March

Hull City 0 Man City 2

Sunderland 0 Crystal Palace 0

Stoke City 3 West Ham 1

Southampton 4 Norwich City 2

Fulham 1 Newcastle 0

Swansea City 1 West Brom 2

Everton 2 Cardiff City 1

Aston Villa 1 Chelsea 0

Sunday, 16 March

Man United 0 Liverpool 3

Tottenham 0 Arsenal 1

 Barclays Premier League Match Week 30 Table

 

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