;Manchester United hosted West Brom Sunday where Wayne Rooney’s double was enough to lift them over the Hawthornes and procure their place atop the English Premier League title for the rest of the season as local rival Manchester City floundered in a 1-0 loss to Swansea.
Though the final whistles for both matches may have sounded 225 miles apart, they both meant the same thing—Manchester United will repeat as the EPL champions.
It does not take an in-depth statistical analysis by a Harvard post-grad to know that the latter months of a footballing season in England belongs to the Red Devils. Sir Alex Ferguson has established a dynasty by recognizing the fundamental principal that a season is a marathon not a sprint, and who finished first is not decided out of the starting blocks, but down the home stretch. Manchester United bounced back from their midweek defeat at the hands of Athletic Bilbao by beating West Brom thanks to two-goal hero Wayne Rooney.
The champions made three changes from the side beaten in the Europa League on Thursday night with Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick all making the starting lineup.
The surprise inclusion came on the bench where Paul Pogba was named among the subs after recently turning down a contract extension.
It seems, however, that the promising French midfielder has made a U-turn and is set to stay with the Manchester club. A fairly one-sided affair was dominated by the reigning champions, who should have won by a bigger margin if not for their profligacy in front of goal.
A moment of opportunism and a coolly taken penalty from Wayne Rooney secured all three points for the Red Devils, as the visitors were thwarted by David de Gea on the few occasions they managed to break out of their own half.
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