After coming back victorious from Japan , Manchester United’s attention was on winning Friday’s early game at Stoke City .

With 32 points out of 16 games, lying 4th in the league table behind Aston Villa , anything less than a victory would have been unacceptable.

The Red Devils had trounced the Premiership’s new boys 5-0 weeks ago at Old Trafford, but this time it was a completely different story.

Stoke City were strong defensively and managed to hold the Champions for over 60 minutes.

Things could not go better for United than after Stoke were down to ten men. Defender Wilkinson was shown his second yellow card of the game after a reckless challenge on Cristiano Ronaldo at the 73rd minute.

Tevez finally broke the deadlock ten minutes later, finishing Neville’s good cross, to seal Manchester United’s 1-0 victory.

This result means that Stoke City ’s run of 6 matches unbeaten at the Britannia Stadium has come to an end. The EPL defending champions have bagged all three points to keep the pressure on Liverpool and Chelsea at the top.

They’ll face Gareth Southgate’s Middlesbrough on Monday night.

Written by: Angela Asante