Reds on home straight to taking back the title

Manchester United took time to hit anything like top gear at Upton Park yesterday morning, and had to settle for a 2-2 draw with West Ham, the same scoreline as the FA Cup third-round tie earlier in the season. Ricardo Vaz Te and Mohamed Diame scored for West Ham, and Antonio Valencia (his first goal of the season) and Robin van Persie scored for the Reds. Shinji Kagawa set up both of the Reds' goals. Discipline-wise, only Andy Carroll was shown a yellow card. The result means the Reds will be champions if six points are picked up from the last five games - even if Manchester City continue winning as they did that day by beating Wigan 1-0 at home, courtesy of Carlos Tevez's second-half strike.