United focus on points not performance

MANCHESTER United maintained their quest for a record 19th league title, their fourth in a row, as goals from Wayne Rooney and Ji-Sung Park earned them victory in an eventful encounter with Liverpool.

It was one full of predictable animosity and ill-disguised ill-feeling and controversial decisions, just the sort of game that has been the stock in trade of this, arguably, the keenest rivalry in English football.

When the dust had settled, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was left to complain about the award of an equalising penalty kick for United, while conceding that his early-season guarantee of a fourth-placed finish may not now look so secure.