Terrific Park! (MU 2 - Liverpool 1)

The two finest English midfielders of their respective generations appeared on the pitch here and Ji-Sung Park upstaged both of them.

In fairness to Paul Scholes, there was not an awful lot he could have done about it in the eight minutes he spent on the field. Left on the bench for the previous 87, he only came on so Sir Alex Ferguson could kill some time and reward Park with the standing ovation he richly deserved.

But Steven Gerrard proved nothing like as influential as a talented, tenacious South Korean who has scored important goals against Arsenal, AC Milan and Liverpool in recent weeks.

There was a time when Ferguson considered Gerrard the most influential player in the English game. But not on this occasion. Not when it was players like Park and Darren Fletcher who took charge of this scrappy, fiercely contested encounter and propelled Manchester United back to the top of the Barclays Premier League. Wayne Rooney has dominated the headlines in recent months and rightly so.

The outstanding footballer in this country right now, he took his season's tally to 33 with the goal that cancelled out a superb fifth-minute header from Fernando Torres.

Chelsea slipped up in the title race though, drawing 1-1 with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.