Premier League: Manchester United 2 Swansea 0

Manchester United have taken the Premier League title race into the final day of the season with a 2-0 victory over Swansea at Old Trafford.

After a nervy opening 20-minute period from the hosts, Paul Scholes put them in front after turning in Michael Carrick’s scuffed shot from inside the box past the despairing Michel Vorm.

Ashley Young added a second just minutes before the break, clinically dispatching a loose ball into the far-right corner after some kamikaze defending from Swansea.

The second half followed a very similar pattern to the first, with United well on top for long spells although they failed to put the game to bed despite creating a whole host of chances, with Javier Hernandez the main culprit in a wasteful display.

The game may be best remembered for being the final time that Dimitar Berbatov strutted his stuff in a Manchester United shirt, after making a cameo appearance off the bench.

The game began at a frantic pace, but neither side were able to carve open the opposition with any real conviction and only a blocked Wayne Rooney shot and a speculative effort from Nathan Dyer which sailed high over the bar were worthy of note in the opening quarter of an hour.

With the visitors working hard off the ball and comfortable when in possession, United were struggling to find their fluency which only added to the flat atmosphere at the ground after rivals Manchester City received a huge boost after they secured victory away from home against Newcastle United earlier on in the day as they closed in on the title.

A decent move from Swansea saw Danny Graham get off a snap-shot while under pressure from Rio Ferdinand, before the hosts took the lead in the 27th minute through Scholes.

Scholes began the move in the middle of the park, spraying the ball out wide to Antonio Valencia, with the winger leaving Swansea left-back Neil Taylor for dead before cutting back a superb ball from the byline.

The Ecuadorian’s pass found Carrick unmarked 12 yards out from goal, but as the midfielder scuffed his effort into the ground, a deft flick from Scholes just in front of Vorm turned it goalwards and handed Ferguson’s side the lead.

In the very next move, they should have gone two goals up, after some excellent work down the right by Valencia again found Carrick bursting into the box, and his low centre across goal was missed by the onrushing Hernandez with the goal gaping.

United extended their lead in the 40th minute through Young, when he curled a low effort past the outstretched fingertips of Vorm and into the bottom right-hand corner to hand the hosts a two-goal cushion.

The second half carried on much in the same vein as the opening period, with Swansea happy to sit back and try and catch United out on the counter-attack.

In the 50th minute, David De Gea had to be alert to turn behind a stinging Gylfi Sigurdsson strike from the edge of the area.

From the resulting corner though, United broke away at pace and only a marvellous bit of covering from Dyer prevented Young from turning in at the far post after some tidy work from both Valencia and Rooney.

Hernandez continued his prolificacy in front of goal as he headed narrowly over unmarked inside the six-yard box.

On the hour mark, Valencia went close to adding a third after a decent delivery in from the left by the rampaging Patrice Evra, but it was dealt with calmly by Vorm, who collected the winger’s side-footed effort with ease.

But Swansea still posed a threat on the break and they should have reduced the deficit in the 63rd minute when Dyer blazed over high after collecting Sigurdsson’s diagonal pass into the area, before rounding Smalling and curling well over De Gea’s bar.

With the game petering out, the lively Sigurdsson forced De Gea into a decent stop low at his near post in the 70th minute to provide some food for thought for the home side’s relatively untroubled defence.

Berbatov came off the bench in the 78th minute to replace Rooney up front in what looks set to be his final appearance at Old Trafford, with the Bulgarian likely to be moved on in the summer..

Despite testing Vorm with a number of efforts from distance, most notably through Tom Cleverley and Valencia, Swansea managed to keep the scoreline down in what was an extremely flat performance from the visitors.

For Manchester United, though, while the three points keep their already slim title hopes alive, they failed to fully punish Rodgers side leaving them a crucial eight goals further back on rivals City.