Nani's first-half goal was enough to give United all three points, but United - Dimitar Berbatov in particular - made life difficult for themselves by not converting any of a host of chances to kill off the match.Prior to their match, Chelsea eased to a 2-0 victory over United's bitter rival, Liverpool, to put pressure on the Reds from getting all three points from the match against Sunderland, and Sir Alex Ferguson knew that it was never going to be easy for his side.
Watching Chelsea virtually being gifted three points by a lazy back-pass by Liverpool captain, Steven Gerard, United could have thrown in the towel, but guidance and words of wisdom from Ferguson, they did everything but.
Tough
Steve Bruce has done quite well in his first season with the Mackems, and they emulated the former United captain's never say die approach.
United played with real conviction and intent in their build up play, but when it came to applying the finishing touch it was less than desirable to say the least.
Following a good bit of possession, the fit-again Wayne Rooney chested the ball down, and his shot forced a good parried save from Craig Gordon, but Ryan Giggs should have done better with the rebound though.
With Gordon scrambling to get back to his feet, Giggs opted for a first-time shot, but one of three former United youngsters, Phil Bardsley, did well to get down and block his goal-bound effort.
Sunderland then had a glorious chance to punish United for not being clinical of front of goal when Steed Malbranque's long-range effort was heading for the top corner, but Edwin van der Sar did quite well to get a strong hand to the shot and tip over for a corner kick.
However, four minutes later United had their noses in front following some good short passes in and around the Sunderland penalty when Darren Fletcher played the ball to wide open Nani.
The Portuguese winger wasted no time as belted his outside-of-the-foot shot into the far post netting to give United the well deserved lead.
It was Nani's second goal in as many matches - and he only scored once in his previous 19 matches, which goes to show that he is growing with confidence and maturity
Wasted
As they did against Blackburn in the goalless draw at Ewood Park, United wasted chances before half-time to all but seal all three points.
Giggs and Berbatov both had shots that failed to hit the target from good positions, but the latter missed no fewer than three chances in the second-half.
The highly-criticized center forward failed to get on the end from Rooney's tantalizing cross that was in an area that Berbatov could have gotten to, but to much chagrin of the United supporters the ball went out for a goal kick.
The next chance that fell to the Bulgarian was an absolute sitter and some how, some way Berbatov was unable to get enough contact on the ball and he missed from less than a yard out.
Before being substituted, Berba's final chance came when Rooney played in another great cross from left-hand side, but his weak header was caromed off Kieran Richardson and over the top of the bar for a corner.
When the cameras flashed to Rooney following the trio of misses by Berbatov, he did his best to bite his lip and not rip into his strike partner, but today showed exactly why Ferguson has opted for a lone striker, because this partnership has not been able to click.
Lucky
Sunderland was playing a very high line, which disrupted United from dictating the pace as well as stamping their authority on the match, but they were also lucky to have been playing down a man.
Malbranque who is a very no non-sense style of player TWICE went in on players with his studs showing, but the referee, Steve Bennett, decided against giving him an early shower.
Brash tackles on both Nani in the first-half, and then a horrendously late challenge on Jonny Evans only saw the well-traveled Premier League player only receive yellow.
On a positive note, Owen Hargreaves finally made his long-awaited return to the field since September of 2008 against Chelsea, but it was a very late substitution so he was unable to get more than a lone touch in the match.
Matchball
The only thing that Paul Scholes did not do against Sunderland is find the back of the net, but the ageless center midfielder put in a tireless performance against Sunderland to keep United's hopes alive.
Ferguson knows that he is still lucky to have convinced the energetic ginger-headed talisman to come back for at least one more season.
Sir Alex Ferguson knows that Manchester United are not favorites to win this season's title with just one match to go, but he also knows that his players will do their utmost best to push Chelsea to the final whistle next weekend.
Ratings
E. van der Sar - 7; J. O'Shea - 6, J. Evans - 7, N. Vidic - 7, P. Evra - 7; Nani - 6 (O. Hargreaves - x), P. Scholes - 8, D. Fletcher - 6 (R. Ferdinand - x), R. Giggs - 6; D. Berbatov - 5 (M. Carrick - 5), W. Rooney - 6
Goals
Nani (28')
Statistics
Possession: 53%
Corners: 4
Shots (on goal): 16 (5)
Bookings: N. Vidic (41'), W. Rooney (55')
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