called on to save a header from Nicklas Bendtner, the Red Devils managed to hold onto their lead and extend their lead at the top of the table. Chelsea, now the only team with a realistic chance of stopping United winning the title failed to reduce the lead to three points the following day, only managing a 1–1 draw at home to Wigan Athletic. They followed this up with a 1–0 win over Everton the following Thursday, reducing the lead to two points with just three games remaining, although United now had a game in hand. On 19 April, Blackburn Rovers welcomed Manchester United to Ewood Park, where the Red Devils had only managed to win once in their last eight visits. With Chelsea having beaten Everton two days earlier, United went into the game only two points of ahead of the Blues, which meant that defeat against Blackburn would give Chelsea the opportunity to leapfrog United in the teams' meeting the following weekend. Despite a promising start, United fell behind in the 21st minute thanks to a Roque Santa Cruz goal – his 16th of the season. United had dominated large parts of the match, but were unable to make a breakthrough. Finally, with just two minutes left in normal time, Carlos Tevez headed home from Paul Scholes' flick-on to salvage a crucial point for United in the championship race. If United were to beat Chelsea in their next match, they would then require just one point from their remaining two games to secure the title. If they failed to win at Stamford Bridge, however, they would need to win both of their remaining games. And fail to win they did, losing 2–1 to a Chelsea side that had had an extra day to recuperate from their Champions League tie against Liverpool in mid-week. Coming off the back of a poor display in Barcelona, United were looking to cement their claim to the Premier League title, which would have been all but won with a win over Chelsea. However, with several players rested with Barcelona on Tuesday in mind, and Nemanja Vidić having to be substituted early on after a knee to the face, the odds never looked in United's favour. Owen Hargreaves took Vidić's place in defence, with Wes Brown switching from right-back to centre-back. Joe Cole had the first real chance, but could only smash the ball