LONDON – Ryan Giggs marked his 999th match as a professional by scoring in another age-defying, influential display to help Manchester United go provisionally 15 points clear at the top of the English Premier League on Saturday.
A late goal from the Welsh midfielder followed a fine strike by defender Rafael da Silva in a 2-0 victory over bottom-place Queens Park Rangers.
“He’s delivered again,” United manager Alex Ferguson said of the 39-year-old Giggs. “He’s an amazing man.”
Even if second-place Manchester City beats Chelsea on Sunday, Giggs seems headed for a 13th league title at the club where he has spent his entire career.
For traditional rival Arsenal, however, the season is mainly coming down to salvaging a spot in the Champions League places. The north London club did manage to put its recent cup disappointments behind it with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa to go provisionally a point behind fourth-place Tottenham.
Villa sunk back into the relegation zone with Wigan, which lost 3-0 to Reading, and QPR.
Also, sixth-place Everton fell five points behind Arsenal after losing 2-1 at Norwich, West Bromwich Albion rose to seventh by beating Sunderland by the same score, and Fulham defeated Stoke 1-0 in a mid-table clash.
United has dropped only 11 points all season, and took just 23 minutes to go in front at Loftus Road with an exquisite opener.
Robin van Persie broke down the right and whipped in a cross that goalkeeper Julio Cesar parried. But the ball fell to Rafael, who blasted it into the top corner from 25 meters.
“I just saw the ball coming towards me and hit it as hard as I could,” the Brazilian defender said. “You can feel by the way you hit the ball that it’s going in . . . I can’t remember scoring a better goal.”
There was a setback for United, however, as Van Persie had to come off before halftime with a hip complaint.
But without its top scorer, United relied on its oldest player to extend its advantage in the 80th when Nani set up Giggs to beat Cesar from an acute angle.
As United marches toward a record-extending 20th English title, the second tier looms for QPR, which is seven points from safety.
At Emirates Stadium, Arsenal recorded a third straight league victory, but it came at the end of a week when the team’s hopes of a first trophy since 2005 seemed to end.
Second-tier club Blackburn knocked Arsenal out of the F.A. Cup last Saturday, and Bayern Munich won the first leg of their Champions League last-16 meeting 3-1 on Tuesday.
The Gunners scored after just six minutes, though, to settle some of the nerves against Villa. Santi Cazorla was at first denied by goalkeeper Brad Guzan but he sent the rebound into the net.
The failure to build on that position of strength proved costly as Andreas Weimann leveled in the 68th after being able to charge through the Arsenal defense unchallenged before striking from 25 meters.
But Cazorla swept home his 11th goal of his debut season in the 85th after meeting a cutback from Nacho Monreal.
“We went through some difficult days and we responded in a united way,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
Barcelona bounces back
AP
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi extended his league-record scoring run to 15 straight games in a 2-1 win over Sevilla on Saturday, three days before the Spanish leaders’ Copa del Rey clash with Real Madrid.
Barcelona striker David Villa canceled out Alberto Botia’s opener with a header in the 52nd before Messi grabbed the winner in the 60th with his league-best 38th goal through 25 rounds.
Madrid, meanwhile, needed Kaka to score his first goal in the Spanish League this season and cue Gonzalo Higuain’s late winner to come from behind and win 2-1 at last-placed Deportivo La Coruna.
With the Spanish title all but secured, Barcelona’s priorities are the Champions League — where it lost the first leg of the round-of-16 clash at Milan 2-0 last week — and the domestic cup.
It meets Madrid at Camp Nou Stadium on Tuesday for the second leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal. The first leg in Madrid finished 1-1.
“Madrid has an incredible team and we will have to be at our best to reach the final,” said Messi. “We will have to play like we always do and not let the Milan game affect us.”
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