United, needing only a point to be confirmed champions for a record 19th time, almost took the lead early on when Nani sent a header against the crossbar.

But it was Rovers who went 1-0 up in the 20th minute when Brett Emerton met Martin Olsson’s cross and finished past Tomasz Kuszczak.

United fired an early warning shot in the fourth minute when Wayne Rooney's pin-point cross picked out Nani, who crashed a header against the bar.

Soon after Nani danced along the edge of the box and dragged a shot wide of Paul Robinson’s right-hand post.

Two minutes later, Blackburn had their first attempt on goal as Jason Roberts cut into the area and squeezed the ball to Christopher Samba, who could only scoop a volley over the bar.

The hosts appeared to be growing in confidence and they had the ball in the net through Samba in the 18th minute, only for referee Phil Dowd to disallow the effort for a foul on Nemanja Vidic.

United then survived a scare when Kuszczak made a hash of dealing with a back-pass, Vidic on hand to avert the danger with Roberts lurking.

Moments later, though, Blackburn were ahead as Brett Emerton got on the end of a Martin Olsson delivery and slotted home.

United showed more urgency after falling behind, but it required a good header from Rio Ferdinand to clear when Emerton whipped a cross into the danger zone on the half-hour mark.

Javier Hernandez went close for the visitors with a shot on the turn from outside the box which Robinson got down to claw behind for a corner.

Olsson then connected first-time with a Salgado cross but his effort flew wide.

Moments later, Kuszczak was nearly caught out again after receiving the ball from a team-mate, the Polish stopper just managing to scramble it away as Roberts came in to challenge him.

Hernandez and Rooney tried their luck at the other end before the interval, with both players seeing their attempts sail over the bar.