United laboured their way to three points – not for the first time – against Stoke, with Nani – probably not for the last time – the key man, scoring and assisting one. Chicharito returned the favour to his teammate, having being selected to give Wayne Rooney a rest, and although Sir Alex Ferguson will surely not be convinced by the manner in which this result was achieved, he will naturally be delighted he was able to preserve the energy of those he was intending to before the weekend.

It was a case of Chicharito at the double as Manchester United finally exorcised their early season demons, rid themselves of their “Hyde” and finally got back to being Jekyll with a trademark last gasp winner at Stoke City. The Mexican striker scored in the first half then struck with just a few minutes left to snatch all three points after Tuncay had levelled for the hosts.

A tumultuous week at Old Trafford that started with an all too familiar surrender of points and featured the Wayne Rooney bombshell ended with the more conventional unconventional 85^th minute at the Britannia. Days after speculating that it would take a shake up of epic proportions – the like of which we witnessed this past 7 days – there is a real belief that the late, late winner could prove to be a turning point in United’s season.