Man United 2 West Brom 0: Van Persie changed the game for us – Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson praised substitute Robin van Persie for his telling impact after Manchester United striker scored a late goal to secure victory over West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils made the breakthrough inside 10 minutes when Shinji Kagawa released Ashley Young in the area and the winger’s cross was deflected past Ben Foster by West Brom defender Gareth McAuley.

Despite the early goal, Ferguson’s side struggled to beat the Baggies goalkeeper, who produced a string of top saves to deny Danny Welbeck and Young in the second half.

West Brom’s Gabriel Tamas had the best chance to restore parity but second-half substitute Van Persie wrapped up three points with a curling strike in the 90th minute.

“Van Persie changed the game for us. When I brought him and Paul Scholes on they settled the game down for us,” Ferguson told BBC Sport.

“West Brom dominated in the second half and kept pumping the ball into our box. They did very well. The ball came in and we had to head it out, and we did that better than we have done all season.”

With Manchester City edging to a 4-3 win against Norwich City, Ferguson still believes the Red Devils are well-placed to win their 14th Premier League title.

“We’re in a good position,” he added.

“We’re halfway there. We’ve a game on Tuesday away from home at Wigan and we’ve got a few players to freshen it up. We’ll look forward to the next game and try and win it.”