The moment that the heavens opened just before kick-off was the moment that Sir Alex Ferguson felt this was going to be Manchester United’s night. The Scot has always liked to believe that his teams are unbeatable in the rain, but there were times when they looked bedraggled in this sodden corner of Greater Manchester until Carlos Tévez shook them out of their sorry state and brought a third successive Premier League title to within touching distance.

A draw or a victory at home to Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime will result in United retaining their title and, if there was a moment last night when their crown seemed to slip, it was Tévez, the man who feels as if he has been exiled from Ferguson’s kingdom, who saved them. The Argentina forward equalised with a marvellous piece of skill just three minutes after his arrival as a second-half substitute, his goal building a platform from which Michael Carrick, with a sweet left-foot shot, applied the coup de grâce with only four minutes left.

As the United goals flew in, the last glimmers of hope were extinguished on Merseyside. Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, never held out much hope for a miracle last night, apparently on the basis of Steve Bruce’s long association with Ferguson, but the Spaniard’s faith in the English game might have been restored by the manner in which Wigan Athletic battled.

This was Wigan’s ninth defeat at the hands of Ferguson’s team in as many matches since they were promoted to the Premier League in 2005, but Bruce, the former United captain, believed that his team “deserved something out of it”. At half-time they led through Hugo Rodallega’s 28th-minute goal, their pressing game knocking the visiting team out of their stride, leaving Nemanja Vidic and his team-mates squabbling with each other, while Cristiano Ronaldo had another of those evenings when he seems intent on giving his manager reasons to authorise his transfer to Real Madrid.

There was an almighty difference between United’s performance for the first hour and final half-hour. It may be a little too simplistic to say that it all came down to Tévez, but the forward — just as in the second-half fightback against Tottenham Hotspur last month — brought his team an impetus that had been sorely lacking.

His contribution over the course of the season has been patchy, but last night, intent on proving a point, whether to Ferguson or to his suitors at Liverpool, Manchester City and beyond, it was he who changed the mood of the game and, by extension, the result.

United had made a terrible start to the evening. Many of Ferguson’s greatest moments with Aberdeen and United have come under rainy skies, including the Premier League title triumph that was secured on this ground 12 months ago, but, while he once made the enlightening claim that Ryan Giggs excels on soft ground, the horse-racing aficionado must have been aghast last night to see so many of his players looking less than sure-footed as they slipped and slid on the greasy surface.

Jonny Evans went over as early as the second minute, allowing Antonio Valencia a clear run on Edwin van der Sar’s goal, only for the winger, the subject of interest from Real Madrid as well as United over the past 12 months, to float his shot wide of the near post.

It was a let-off for United, but, after Wayne Rooney missed an equally good chance at the other end and Carrick shot just wide, Ferguson’s team began to look uneasy again.

Nemanja Vidic was the more convincing of United’s centre halves in the absence of the injured Rio Ferdinand, but he will not look back with fondness on Wigan’s goal. He had his bearings wrong from the moment that Lee Cattermole floated a hopeful pass into the penalty area and, when he and Rodallega contested the aerial ball, the defender fell to the ground.

Rodallega also looked disorientated as the ball landed, but the Colombia forward reacted quicker to smash a shot past a bewildered Van der Sar.

United were a disjointed mess, so much so that Rooney called an impromptu team meeting during a break in play. Ronaldo, in particular, was knocked out of his stride by Wigan’s harrying of him, but everything changed with Tévez’s arrival early in the second half, the substitute equalising with an instinctive flick that took Carrick’s shot past Richard Kingson.

The subsequent onslaught was not what it might have been had United’s need been greater, but, with Wigan having run out of steam, there was a sense of inevitability about what followed. Ronaldo earned an extravagant rebuke from Ferguson for one wild shot too many, but he played a part in the winning goal, sending John O’Shea on an overlapping run that ended with a perceptive pull-back and a Carrick shot that will turn Saturday’s game at Old Trafford into one long celebration. No one, it seems, will rain on United’s parade.

One more point will do

- Manchester United need a point from either of their final two matches to win the title. They can achieve that on Saturday at home to Arsenal, a fixture that Arsène Wenger’s side won 1-0 to become champions in May 2002.

- If Liverpool fail to win either of their final two games, then United will not need to gain another point.

- Remaining games: Man United: Sat, May 16: Arsenal (h); Sun, May 24: Hull City (a). Liverpool: Sun, May 17: West Bromwich Albion (a); Sun, May 24: Tottenham Hotspur (h).

Wigan (4-3-2-1): R Kingson — M Melchiot, E Boyce, T Bramble, M Figueroa — L Cattermole, P Scharner, M Brown — A Valencia, C N’Zogbia (sub: Mido, 82min) — H Rodallega. Substitutes not used: M Pollitt, E Edman, B Watson, J Koumas, D de Ridder, O Kapo.

Manchester United (4-3-3): E van der Sar — J O’Shea, N Vidic, J Evans, P Evra — M Carrick, P Scholes (sub: R Giggs, 75), Anderson (sub: C Tévez, 58) — C Ronaldo, D Berbatov (sub: Park Ji Sung, 89), W Rooney. Substitutes not used: T Kuszczak, G Neville, Rafael Da Silva, Nani.

Referee: R Styles.