an altercation between Lucas Neill and Nani resulted in the Portuguese international headbutting the Australian, before going to ground himself, only to find a red card waiting for him when he got back to his feet. This left United a man down, with a whole half left to play. Nevertheless, despite the man advantage, West Ham were unable to capitalise, and ended up going 4–1 down in the 59th minute. Michael Carrick picked the ball up in midfield off a poor West Ham clearance, before letting rip from 30 yards. His shot took a large deflection off Lucas Neill, wrong-footing Robert Green, and the ball nestled in the bottom-left corner of the net. Darren Fletcher also came close to scoring late in the game, after coming on as a substitute, but his shot deflected back off the inside of the post. The match finished 4–1 to United, but Chelsea's win against Newcastle United two days later kept the two teams level on points, meaning that the title race would go to the last day of the season for the first time since 1999. Manchester United went to Wigan on the final day of the season, knowing that they needed only to equal or better Chelsea's result against Bolton in order to be Premier League champions, due to their superior goal difference. Wayne Rooney was named in the United starting lineup despite concerns over his fitness, while Nemanja Vidić made a return to the side for the first time since his concussion against Chelsea. Wigan started the game with an aggressive mentality, closing down the United players at every opportunity. Paul Scholes was booked early on for a tackle from behind on Wilson Palacios, but the Latics then had a penalty shout turned down in the 24th minute, when a Jason Koumas shot appeared to deflect off Rio Ferdinand's outstretched upper arm. Wigan's anguish was then compounded when referee Steve Bennett awarded United a penalty for Emmerson Boyce's foul on Wayne Rooney. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take the penalty, which he converted, equalling Alan Shearer's record for the most goals in a 38-game season with 31 goals. Soon after, Scholes was fortunate not to be sent off when he cynically brought down Wilson Palacios. Steve Bennett chose to keep his cards in his pocket. In the second half, United continued to test the Wigan goal, but goalkeeper Chris Kirkland was