FanHouse Carlos Tevez

There are times when the marketing aces at the Barclay's Premier League home office must get a little tired of constantly telling anyone who will listen that the league is the greatest in the world. Surely partisans in Barcelona and Madrid would argue otherwise.

However smug these assertions might come off, the Premier League did get another amazing game to add to its resume and worldwide popularity in the form of Manchester United's last-minute 4-3 derby victory over Manchester City at Old Trafford. As far as a 90-minute soccer game goes, it's hard to ask for more than anything than this match because it had pretty much everything.

---

---

Circle September 20 on your calendars. That's the day Manchester City comes to Old Trafford in the 2009-10 Premier League season and it'll be bringing a familiar face along -- Carlos Tevez.

Monday afternoon suddenly cash-flush City continued it's summer spending spree by inking the Argentina striker to a five-year deal, shortly after he couldn't agree to a permanent deal with the three-time defending Premier League champions.

File this one away under something that nobody, I mean nobody, saw coming. Michael Owen was at Manchester United's training ground for medical tests and could sign with the Premier League champions before Friday is over.

It's not too often that a transfer is actually shocking, but if this one goes down it's a Grade A stunner. After losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez it's hard to fathom that Sir Alex Ferguson is chasing down a player who could barely stay on the field during his star-crossed tenure at Newcastle United. In fact, I read somewhere that Ronaldo and Tevez scored more goals the last two seasons than Owen made appearances.

Manchester United ... Barcelona ... the UEFA Champions League final. What more really needs to be said?

Wednesday night in Rome (ESPN, 2:25 PM ET) the best team in Europe will be crowned in a contest pitting the champions of what are considered the two top professional leagues in the world -- the (English) Premier League and La Liga. Oh right, there's the juicy subplot between two of the world's best players, too, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi squaring off at the Stadio Olimpico.

Put the champagne on ice, because Manchester United could have the 2008-09 Premier League crown wrapped up before most Americans are awake Saturday morning.

The Red Devils put themselves on the doorstep of their third straight Premier League crown after beating Wigan Athletic 2-1 Wednesday, finally making up the 'game in hand' the club has held seemingly for months. Manchester United now lead second place Liverpool by six points with two games remaining. All Manchester United needs is one point from its two remaining games -- the first coming in the early Saturday morning fixture against rival Arsenal at Old Trafford.