Manchester United won their record-tying, overall 18th championship today (May 16th) at Old Trafford after a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, killing any hopes of a Liverpool miracle comeback. That’s it, it’s all over for this year and it’s really pretty hard to say that it’s not deserved.

Yes, Man United may have dropped quite a few points to the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal during the course of this season, but they beat the teams they’re supposed to beat all season long instead of drawing with them, and this is basically how they earned enough points to take their 11th Premier League title. Liverpool only have themselves to blame after a series of uninspiring 0-0 draws earlier this season with some of the dregs of the league.

While United definitely didn’t look like world beaters today, they did enough against Arsenal to earn the draw and the right to celebrate. The Londoners had quite an edge in possession, but didn’t really create anything out of all the time they had the ball.

Andrei Arshavin came close for the Gunners, while Wayne Rooney almost put the home side in front with a header that just missed the post. Ronaldo saw a free kick curl just wide of the post and Cesc Fabregas slammed a shot off of the upright for Arsenal with a few minutes to go. Robin van Persie shot directly at United keeper Edwin van der Sar about a minute later and that was basically it as far as the offense went. It should also be noted that Arsenal received five yellow cards to none for United.

Though it came as no surprise really that the trophy stays at Old Trafford, it will be interesting to see who’s still around next season to defend it. Will Ronaldo still be there to lead the team in scoring, and will Carlos Tevez be hung on to as a source of energy from the bench? It appears Gary Neville may as well hang up his boots now as he’s fighting injury after injury and his recovery time is taking longer now because of his age. Wes Brown and Owen Hargreaves might as well be shipped out as well as they don’t seem to want to put in the effort to play, injured or not. They strike me as players who are perfectly satisfied in cashing their paycheques instead of working hard on their fitness, and are constantly injured because of it.

For United to improve, they need to cut the dead wood and give more playing time to youngsters such as Fabio, Rafael, Jonathan Evans, Rodrigo Possebon, Federico Macheda, goalkeeper Ben Foster, and perhaps striker Danny Welbeck. Of course, it’s hard to argue with Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial record, but he can also show some improvement by taking every FA Cup and League Cup game seriously. He needs to at least dress his best players and have them ready on the bench just in case they’re needed, instead of leaving them at home.

With a combination of excellent depth, youth, and experience, there’s no reason United can’t hang onto the title again next year as well.

If you read the newspaper and see a score line that shows Liverpool 4-4 Arshavin, it would be an understandable mistake, as Andrei Arshavin scored all four goals for Arsenal in a thriller at Anfield tonight (Apr. 21) It was an incredible game, easily the best in the English Premier League this season and Arshavin was only one of many storylines in this cracker.

Liverpool, who have shown when they attack, can be one of the most entertaining teams in the league, went ahead 2-1, but then found themselves trailing three times before finally leveling the score for good at four all. To nobody’s surprise it came in injury time after Arsenal went up 4-3 in the 90th minute. It was the sixth goal of the second half.

Arshavin, who the genius Arsene Wenger left to rot on the bench for 75 minutes in Arsenal’s FA Cup loss to Chelsea on the weekend, was deadly in his finishing, while Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun scored twice for Liverpool. And when you throw in two goals that were ruled offside by Arsenal, the ball hit the back of the net 10 times. Well actually nine, as one of Benayoun’s just managed to cross the goal line. Benayoun impresses me every time out. I think he’s a very underrated player and has been a key in Liverpool’s push for the title.

While Liverpool have one point more than they had yesterday, and have temporarily moved into first place in the EPL on goal difference, they actually dropped two points in the race for the title. While Liverpool fans no doubt witnessed a match of epic proportions, this will soon sink in and it will be Man United and Chelsea fans who will actually benefit most from this game. It just goes to show how exciting a football match can be when both teams go for goals as mistakes are usually forced. Every manager in the league should be forced to watch the tape of this match.

There was another nail biter tonight in Spain as Gonzalo Higuain’s injury-time goal earned a remarkable 3-2 comeback win for Real Madrid at over Getafe at home. Real are now only three points behind Barcelona for the La Liga title, with the league leaders playing at home to third-placed Sevilla tomorrow (Apr. 22).

Getafe went ahead 2-1 in the 84th minute, but Real tied it up almost immediately and then Iker Casillas saved a Getafe penalty. Higuain then became the hero as he hammered a shot high into the corner of the net in injury time.

In Germany, Bayer Leverkusen scored three goals in extra time and beat second division team Mainz 4-1 to reach the German Cup final.  This was another game where late action decided it as Leverkusen went ahead in the 82nd minute but Mainz tied it in the 88th. Leverkusen will meet Hamburg SV or Werder Bremen in the final. They play each other tomorrow (Apr. 22nd).

Over in Italy it appears Juventus’ next home game, on May 3 against Lecce, will be played in an empty stadium as punishment for fans’ racial abuse of Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli on April 18th.  The 18-year-old was met with chants of “a black Italian does not exist” from some of the Juventus supporters. Balotelli was born in Palermo, but is of African descent.

The EPL January transfer window has finally come to an end and there were a few more players on the move.

Fifth-place Arsenal, who now seem to be out of the title race, has signed Russian Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St Petersburg. He should help the Gunners as long as Wenger plays him instead of sitting him on the bench. The 27-year-old Arshavin scored 51 goals in 232 games for Zenit, and was the 2006 Russian Footballer of the Year.

Portuguese international Ricardo Quaresma left Italy’s Inter Milan and signed on loan with Chelsea until the end of the season. Although he’s only 25, Chelsea becomes the fifth club of Quaresma’s career. Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho paid 16.3 million pounds for him last year.

West Brom signed winger Juan Carlos Menseguez from Argentine Primera Division champions San Lorenzo along with Youssouf Mulumbu from French club Paris St Germain.

Fulham signed French midfielder Olivier Dacourt, 34, on loan from Inter Milan until the end of the season

Twenty two-year-old Charles N’Zogbia’s left Newcastle after he was swapped to Wigan for 24-year-old Ryan Taylor. Newcastle also reportedly received six million pounds in the deal.

In loan moves: Calum Davenport joined Sunderland from West Ham, James Chester left Manchester United for Peterborough United, Tel Ban-Haim went to Sunderland from Manchester City, Michael Chopra left Sunderland for Cardiff City, and Matt Derbyshire was loaned out from Blackburn to Greek side Olympiakos.

Striker Robbie Keane’s return to Tottenham from Liverpool became official after six miserable months at Anfield under manager Rafael Benitez. The Spanish manager cost club owners about five million pounds or more by signing the 28-year-old Republic of Ireland striker last year for close to 20 million pounds. It’s not sure how much Tottenham paid to get Keane back as both clubs are now disputing figures.

It was an odd move in the first place as Liverpool had striker Peter Crouch, but Benitez sold him for some reason to Portsmouth for about seven million pounds before signing Keane. So at the end of the day, Liverpool has neither Crouch nor Keane, and are out millions of pounds. And yes, Benitez is still employed there. In another twist to the story, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has said Keane will now captain Tottenham, but defender Ledley King will retain the club captaincy, whatever that means. It will also be interesting to see how the fans at White Hart lane will greet Keane after he deserted them in the summer.

Meanwhile on the pitch, Championship side Burnley continued its FA Cup run by beating West Brom 3-1 at home in their fourth-round replay. Burnley will now face either Cardiff City or Arsenal in the fifth round. Burnley are getting used to beating Premier League sides this season as they have already beaten Fulham, Chelsea, and Arsenal in the Carling Cup and came oh so close to knocking Spurs out of that competition too, only to lose in the last two minutes of extra time last month. The Arsenal vs Cardiff FA Cup replay was postponed due to current weather conditions in England. Translation: It’s cold and snowing.