Every successful title campaign has a defining moment. Think back to Arsenal’s Premier League triumph in 1998 and it was crowned by the sight of Tony Adams marauding forward to score a goal against Everton that typified their enlightenment under Arsène Wenger.

Go back another five years and it was Steve Bruce’s stoppage-time header for Manchester United against Sheffield Wednesday at Old Trafford. Rewind another five years to Liverpool’s class of 1988 and it came with a goal against Arsenal that had it all: a shimmying run from John Barnes, a lost cause chased by Steve McMahon and a six-yard tap-in from John Aldridge.

When the apparent formalities are completed, a single moment will emerge as the one that defined United’s eighteenth league title. It came on an April afternoon on which a patched-up defence had been torn to shreds by Aston Villa at Old Trafford, when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, exhausted, seemed to be hemmed in against the ropes, drifting towards a third consecutive league defeat until Cristiano Ronaldo equalised and then finally, dramatically, Federico Macheda, a 17-year-old Italian making his debut as a substitute, sparked delirium with a spectacular winning goal deep in stoppage time.

It was a goal that said much about United under Ferguson and, long before that, under Sir Matt Busby: a tendency to do things the hard way, a willingness to give youth its head and, above all, a commitment to attacking football that would often overwhelm opponents in the final moments of matches.

Their performance levels have dipped dramatically at times over the past weeks, most notably during dire first-half performances at home to Tottenham Hotspur on April 25 and away to Wigan Athletic in a 2-1 victory on Wednesday, but the record books will show that the win over Villa was the first of at least seven in succession in the league — and they only need a draw at home to Arsenal tomorrow lunchtime to secure the trophy with a game to spare.

Failure to get the point they need tomorrow would still leave United with the insurance of the final game of the season away to Hull City eight days later, although Ferguson would like to rest his key players before the Champions League final against Barcelona on May 27 — a prospect that will terrify Hull’s rivals in the relegation battle.

“We’re six points clear now and hopefully that point we need will come against Arsenal on Saturday,” Wayne Rooney said yesterday. “It’s important to get it done on Saturday so we can get a rest before the Champions League final. It will give the manager options for that final game.

“We don’t want to be going to Hull needing something so close to that final, because we know with the position they are in that it would be a difficult game. They are fighting to stay up.”

Given the way that United outclassed Arsenal in both legs of their recent Champions League semi-final, in which it was Wenger’s team who were flattered by a 4-1 aggregate scoreline, it is hard to imagine that the Premier League trophy will not find its way to the United dressing room tomorrow, having been handed to a combination of Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand. If the past couple of months have shown United’s rivals anything, it is that Ferguson’s players will find a way to answer just about any conundrum they have set themselves.

That is how it transpired at the JJB Stadium on Wednesday, when United trailed Wigan 1-0 at half-time, only for Carlos Tévez to equalise within three minutes of his introduction as a substitute before Michael Carrick settled matters with a sweet left-foot shot with four minutes remaining.

Tévez has not played in as many big games or scored as many goals as he would have wished, but he has weighed in with some vital contributions, including the 83rd-minute winner in the 1-0 victory away to Stoke City on Boxing Day, which Ferguson has called their most important goal of the season, and the equaliser against Wigan. The goal on Wednesday came against a backdrop of claim and counter-claim about the player’s future, with Kia Joorabchian, the businessman who fronts the companies that own Tévez’s “economic rights”, taking issue with Ferguson’s post-match suggestion that United had made an offer to secure his services beyond the end of the season.

Tévez’s team-mates are concerned about the prospect of losing his services at the end of the season — particularly given that, under the terms of his arrangement with Joorabchian, he can join any number of interested clubs, such as Real Madrid, Liverpool or Manchester City, without United receiving a penny.

“Carlos is a world-class player and you always want to see those sort of players at your club,” Rooney said. “He is great to play with. He has got a lot of energy and scored some vital goals for us. His workrate is brilliant and hopefully he will sign to stay with us. But I don’t know what is happening behind the scenes and it is hard to say what will happen.”

In addition to the gulf between the two parties’ valuations of Tévez, the Argentina forward’s principal gripe is Ferguson’s reluctance to play him in some of the bigger fixtures in the Barclays Premier League and Champions League. But, more than ever, it has been a squad game for United this season, with valuable contributions made by numerous players, including Macheda, who, even though he will not pick up a medal, will be remembered for giving United impetus when they needed it most.