Eight Points

With just six games remaining, the title race looks to be nearing the end after Manchester United were able to stretch their lead to eight points on today's Easter Super Sunday. United hosted QPR before Manchester City went to Arsenal.

For the first ten minutes, Manchester United had 92% possession and a goal looked ominous. But the matter in which the deadlock was broken was shrouded in controversy. The ball was played through to Ashley Young, the winger then theatrically fell under a Shaun Derry and Lee Mason pointed to the spot and sent the QPR captain off. It wasn't as clear cut as that, however, as Young was clearly in an offside position when the ball was played and the contact under which he fell was minimal to say the least. After Mason, wrongly, pointed to the spot, he had no option but to send Derry off for denying a goalscoring opportunity. Once the seventh red card of the season for QPR had made the long walk down the tunnel, Wayne Rooney stepped up and placed his 22nd goal of the season past Paddy Kenny.

From there, United looked in formidable form but failed to take advantage. QPR managed to hold on up to half-time with the scoreline remaining 1-0. It was more of the same in the second half but United's casual attitude prevented them from extended their goal difference further. The safety net finally came on 68-minutes when Paul Scholes rifled a shot into the bottom corner, his third since his return. Michael Carrick nearly added a third but his effort smashed back off the post and the game finished at 2-0.

With City knowing their rivals had extended the lead to eight points, they knew they had to perform against Arsenal. But that is exactly what they didn't do. Mario Balotelli will once again grab the headlines and again it's not for the right reasons. Arsenal had secured 72% possession in the first 15-minutes as City were looking extremely sluggish. But they were lucky to have all eleven men on the pitch when Balotelli slid in, studs showing, and collided into Alex Song, knee high. Referee Martin Atkinson didn't even give a free-kick and the young Italian got away with one.

As for the attacking, it looked like it was going to be one of those games for Arsenal as they just couldn't squeeze the ball home. A first-half Robin Van Persie header from a corner was blocked off the line, by Thomas Vermaelen. The second half saw Yossi Benayoun have his shot stopped by Joe Hart before Vermaelen tried to slid it home, instead it rolled back to Benayoun who could only slip it wide. City didn't provide a shot on target throughout the game and would soon pay the price. Arsenal finally found their breakthrough when Mikel Arteta smashed a shot past Hart and possibly ended their title dreams with three minutes remaining. It got worse for City when Balotelli received a second yellow card for a late challenge in injury time, forcing Roberto Mancini to concede that it may be better for the striker to leave Eastlands in the summer.