Man United left it late against Bolton as an 88th minute strike from Dimitar Berbatov earned them a 1-0 victory.
Jonny Evans sent off for poor challenge on Stuart Holden
Manchester United left it late against Bolton as an 88th minute strike from Dimitar Berbatov earned them a 1-0 victory, despite a red card for Jonny Evans.
Northern Ireland defender Evans was shown his marching orders with just 14 minutes of normal time remaining at Old Trafford for a dangerous lunge on Stuart Holden, who was forced off with a resulting injury.
But going a man down galvanised the home side, with Bolton looking to settle for a point, although Matty Taylor wasted a glorious chance when he headed straight at Edwin van der Sar.
Previous chances were few and far between in an evenly-matched contest, and the Red Devils looked to be heading for a disappointing home draw.
Yet they snatched all three points late on as Jussi Jaaskelainen fumbled a Nani shot into the path of Berbatov, who made no mistake from close range.
Stands
After missing each other on Tuesday, Rio Ferdinand and Fabio Capello were both present in the Old Trafford directors' box amid heightened speculation that John Terry is about to be reinstalled as England captain.
The major figure, though, was Sir Alex Ferguson, who began a five-match touchline ban by communicating with the home dug-out by telephone.
It was probably just as well Ferguson was in the sanctuary of the stands as his opinion of Andre Marriner's decision not to award United an early penalty when Javier Hernandez's shot bounced onto Gary Cahill's arm was probably not worth repeating.
Once that call went their way, Bolton enjoyed themselves.
Fabrice Muamba revelled in the space afforded to him by a United midfield too light on physical contact and with Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander getting the better of Evans and Chris Smalling the hosts creaked badly.
Edwin van der Sar got his positioning just right to ensure Martin Petrov's curling free-kick did not find the net, Daniel Sturridge failed to make the most of a half-chance and Elmander fired a thunderbolt straight at Patrice Evra.
There was more than half-an-hour on the clock when the hosts carved out a decent chance, Antonio Valencia, on his first start since September, rolled a pass to Wayne Rooney.
Lacklustre
The England man cut a cross back to Hernandez at the near-post but the Mexican could not keep his near-post effort on target.
Rooney was off target with a couple of efforts too, but United were so lacklustre it was no surprise both Fabio and, more importantly, Berbatov were introduced at the break.
The double change triggered a shift in momentum, with United gaining the initiative.
However, Berbatov's relative lack of pace compared to Hernandez was a major factor in the Bulgarian getting caught offside as he tried to gain half a yard in his attempts to reach through-balls from Smalling and Rooney.
Petrov was not too far away with a speculative effort from an acute angle after he received the ball straight back from his own corner, proof that Bolton remained a huge danger.
The Red Devils were starting to force their opponents back though, even if the end product was more of an increase in pressure than anything tangible in the way of clear-cut opportunities.
Bolton survived when Rooney used his strength to collect a short pass from Ryan Giggs and lay the ball off to Berbatov.
The £30.75million striker managed to get his snap-shot away, but it was marginally off target.
Dismissal
Cahill then outsprinted Berbatov to reach Valencia's ball before the entire complexion of the contest changed with Evans' dismissal.
The Northern Ireland defender has never been regarded as a dirty player and, on first glance, it appeared Evans had merely come out on top in a 50-50 duel for possession.
Marriner was close enough to come up with a different theory, producing a red card that forced Michael Carrick to take up a defensive position and Rooney to operate in central midfield.
For Holden, the injury was serious enough to warrant immediate calls for a stretcher, just over 12 months after he broke a leg in a tackle with Nigel de Jong that nearly forced him to miss the World Cup.
The loss of a player did not affect United's attitude as Rooney went close.
But there were gaping holes at the other end and Taylor could only hold his head in his hands as he sent a free header from eight yards straight at Van der Sar.
Bolton must have known such opportunities could not be squandered, even against a side with 10 men.
And as Berbatov tapped home, following Jaaskelainen's blunder, the feeling of this being a key day in the title battle was inescapable.
| Manchester United |
Team Statistics |
Bolton Wanderers |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 6 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
7 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
4 |
| 12 |
Corners |
5 |
| 9 |
Fouls |
11 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
| 1 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 71.7 |
Passing Success |
64.4 |
| 16 |
Tackles |
34 |
| 75 |
Tackles Success |
73.5 |
| 57 |
Possession |
43 |
| 55 |
Territorial Advantage |
45 |
|
