Veteran Ryan Giggs has pointed to Manchester United's second goal against Sunderland as the key to their win. United won 2-0 against a Sunderland outfit that had overturned Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season.
Dimitar Berbatov scored the opener, but when the Bulgarian hit the upright and Anderson disturbed the cross-bar, there would have been some nerves in the United area. However, Berbatov grabbed his second courtesy of a deflection and the Red Devils coasted to a win from there on. Giggs, who was superb in midfield, pointed to that second goal as an important development.
"You're always a bit nervy when you're up against a very good Sunderland team and it's only 1-0, but once we got that second goal it was comfortable," he told MUTV. "We played really well in the first half an hour and created a lot of chances, just as we did against Blackburn.
"The difference that day was we were putting the chances away pretty much every time we went forward and it could have been the same today [Sunday]. The goals just didn't come though and we were a bit disappointed to come in at half-time with the score only at 1-0.
"As I said though, once we got the second we were comfortable and we were happy to see the game out knowing that we've got a game in a couple of days. We didn't want to go flying about and pick up any injuries." The Welshman then went on to praise Berbatov, who has now scored 14 goals this season despite not being guaranteed a starting place in Sir Alex Ferguson's XI.
"Berba is playing really well," said Giggs. "He's scoring goals, good goals and when you're a front player that's what you want to do. "He's getting himself in positions where he's getting chances and he could have even got a couple more today."
United now travel to St Andrews' on Tuesday to face Birmingham City.
Source: ESPN
Ryan Giggs