The Manchester United V/s Birmingham match saw Wayne Rooney score for Man U in the first half; the score-line remained undisturbed for the remainder of the match.

However, it remains to be seen if absence of Ronaldo has any effect on the club’s performance in tight matches. Nani and Antonio Valencia did a good job providing a number of passes upfront. In other news, Rio Ferdinand is likely to be out for at least two weeks with a thigh injury. “I would imagine Rio will be out for two weeks,” said Ferguson. Ferdinand will undergo a scan and also casts a shadow of doubt for England’s World Cup qualifier against Croatia on September 9th at Wembley

Liverpool on the other hand performed poorly but managed a goal out of the match. The Reds cried foul when a penalty wasn’t awarded for a shoulder challenge by Assou-Ekotto on substitute Voronin, late in the second half. Minutes later, Yossi Benayoun’s cross struck Assou-Ekotto on the arm but the referee felt it was ball to hand and waved away any further appeals. Liverpool had already been awarded a penalty earlier in the match which was successfully converted by Steven Gerrard, this helped cancel out the Tottenham lead. Rafael Benitez was quoted saying “The decisions were very poor. Everyone could see the first one was a penalty. The second one was handball but we knew it would not be a penalty.”