United Make It Three in a Row 曼联创造三连冠

A nil-nil draw 零比零平手 might not be the most spectacular way to clinch¹ 抓住不放 a championship, but Saturday’s game against Arsenal² showed some of Manchester United’s best qualities – their defence, their grit³ 勇气 and their ability to perform under pressure.

United only needed a draw, but Arsenal had no intention of making things easy for them. With the pressure off, Arsene Wenger’s side played much better than in the sides' recent Champions League semi-final clash 对阵。

Arsenal’s first opportunity came 13 minutes into the game, when Andrey Arshavin sent a cross 传中 through to Van Persie, but the ball was headed off target.

Four minutes later it was United’s turn to miss a chance, with Rooney heading John O'Shea's cross wide.

Arsenal keeper Lukas Fabianski didn’t have the busiest match but he did well to deflect⁴ 偏转 / 偏离 a shot later on from Tevez. It was the Argentine’s final contribution to the game and, with ongoing⁵ speculation⁶ about his future at the club, may represent his final flourish 闪光 at Old Trafford.

His manager Sir Alex Ferguson substituted 替换 him shortly afterwards for Ji-Sung Park. The home crowd howled its disapproval⁷ 不赞同的怒吼 at this decision, and for his part Tevez milked the situation 充分利用时机, taking his time to wave goodbye to all sides of the ground.

The final part of the game turned into a nail-biter 激烈紧张的比赛 for the United supporters as they waited to see whether they would have to keep their fireworks for another week.

But further attempts on the home goal 主场进球 by Fabregas and Van Persie came to nothing 没进一球 / 没有结果 and with the final whistle still ringing in the crowd’s ears, club captain Gary Neville lifted the Barclays Premier⁸ League trophy⁹.

Speaking after the match, Neville put United’s success down to 把…归功于 the quality of the whole squad¹⁰ rather than the magic of one or two star players.

Fans showed their joy and relief at a match marking United’s third premiership title 头衔 in a row, and their 18th championship win altogether, a national record equalled only by Liverpool.

That seems fitting 合适的 after a season which will be remembered for the intense rivalry¹¹ between the two clubs, with Liverpool dogging United’s heels 紧跟曼联 in the final stages of the competition.

Ferguson enjoyed pointing out that when he came to Manchester Liverpool were the "top guns", meaning they were by far the best team. Liverpool dominated the league game 英超比赛 throughout the 70s and 80s but have not won since 1990.

So it's no surprise that Ferguson is already smacking¹² his lips in anticipation¹³ 急切盼望 of a 19th championship victory.

"The great challenge now is to try to win it next year because that would be something special," he said.

But he has of course one very important job to do before that: beat Barcelona on 27th May and become the first club ever to defend their Champions League title.

On this, the Scottish manager couldn't have been more enthusiastic.

"Now we have won the league we are bouncing into the final," he said.