SUBSTITUTE John O’Shea hit a dramatic injury time winner as 10-man Manchester United beat Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield to take a huge step towards securing the Premiership title on Saturday.

The Red Devils stayed nine points ahead in the Premier League. O’Shea drove the ball into the roof of the net after Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina failed to hold onto a powerful free kick from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Although defending champion Chelsea won 2-0 at Portsmouth with goals by Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, United’s 23rd victory of the season means it has 72 points to 63 from the Blues. Chelsea’s best hope is that it still has a home game against United.

Red Devils goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar made standout saves against Craig Bellamy and Peter Crouch. Manager Alex Ferguson acknowledged his team, which created few chances at Anfield, was fortunate to go home with the three points.

“Liverpool will feel very unlucky and they deserve to,” Ferguson said. “It was a fantastic result. We had a lot of narrow escapes and Liverpool upset our rhythm.

“It is a massive result for us. We broke away late on against Fulham and scored and now we’ve done it here. We’ve had that bit of luck in the last two weeks but you need luck if you are to win titles.”

Fourth place Arsenal came off its poor run of three losses in a row in the Champions League, League Cup final and FA Cup with a 2-1 victory over Reading. Brazilian stars Gilberto Silva — on a penalty — and Julio Baptista both fired the ball past Royals goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann and the Gunners moved within a point of third place Liverpool.

Carlos Bocanegra headed his third goal of the season to even the score for Fulham in a 1-1 tie against Aston Villa.

Watford climbed out of last place with a 2-2 tie with Charlton.

(SD-Agencies)

Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher (L) tries to get hold of Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney during their match at Anfi eld Stadium, Liverpool, England, on Saturday.

Xinhua/Reuters