Report: Man United 4 - 0 Villa

Team Line-ups

Manchester United: Kuszczak; Brown, Ferdinand (Hargreaves 61), Vidic, Evra
(O’Shea 61); Ronaldo, Carrick (Anderson 61), Scholes, Giggs; Tevez, Rooney.
Subs not used: Foster, Park.
Booked: Vidic

Aston Villa: Carson; Bouma (Osbourne 80), Mellberg, Laursen; Agbonlahor,
Reo-Coker, Barry, Petrov, Young; Carew (Maloney 42), Harewood (Salifou 69).
Subs not used: Taylor, Knight.
Booked: Bouma

Attendance: 75,932



Barclays Premier League

Venue: Old Trafford

Date: 29/3/08

Goals: Man United: Ronaldo (15), Tevez (32), Rooney (53), Rooney (70)

Goals: Villa: None

Final Score:United 4 - 0 Villa

Both Chelsea and Arsenal snatched narrow wins against Boro and Bolton respectively. Chelsea are now 5 points behind Man U and Arsenal are 6 points behind Man U. United won quite comfortably against Villa . A brace from Rooney, 1 each for Ronaldo and Tevez saw their GD rise up to 50. With six games to go, it's a resounding statement of intent.

Nothing was lacking. Goals, skill, determination, and sumptuous football at times. Villa couldn’t live with United. They arrived without a win at Old Trafford in 25 years (they won 2-1 in November 1983) and on a run of 13 straight defeats against the Reds.

Martin O’Neill signalled his intentions to end a recent run that has seen Villa collect just two points from their last four games. He paired power with more power in the form of John Carew and Marlon Harewood up front, and rapid runners Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor on either flank. With Arsenal earlier in the day coming back from 2-0 down to beat Bolton 3-2, the Reds knew the significance of maintaining their record against Villa.

There could be no time to bask in the afterglow of last Sunday’s 3-0 win over Liverpool - not least because it was extinguished by the heavy rain throughout. The weather brought a zip to the surface, and a speed to both teams' play.

a couple of corners for the visitors, an early warning of one of Villa’s best attacking options.

Rooney led United’s early attacking forays, his cross after five minutes causing Nigel Reo-Coker to head behind for a corner, from which his stunning volley was only prevented from bursting the net by Martin Laursen’s brave defending. Cristiano Ronaldo had a volley of his own saved by Scott Carson. From the resulting corner Brown - clearly with a taste for glory after his goal against Liverpool - saw his header go narrowly over the bar.

On 17 minutes the breakthrough arrived. Ronaldo, who else? And this must go down as one of the cheekiest of his 35 goals this term. After Gareth Barry and Wilfred Bouma failed to clear a corner, the ball fell to Ronaldo. With his back to goal he decided, rather than wasting time by turning to shoot, to backheel the ball through Martin Laursen’s legs and past Carson.

What is pleasing about Ronaldo is that, considering the frequency with which he finds the net, his joy at scoring never diminishes. He celebrates every goal as if it were a rarity. The Portuguese winger didn’t let some heavy tackles stop him playing, and provided the assist for United’s second goal on 33 minutes. Tevez - a bundle of energy chasing every cause - started the move which also involved Rooney and Scholes and finished it with a diving header at the far post from Ronaldo's delightful cross. Great goal. Glorious football. Villa’s defenders could only stand and admire.

At the start of the second half it was a case of keeping upthe momentum and the enthralling football of the first 45 minutes. United immediately had the chance to score. After a neat one-two with Tevez, Rooney was one-on-one with Carson. Everyone in the ground was willing the ball to go in, but it went agonisingly past the the post. Rooney must have felt as if he'd never score.

Villa weren't out of it, though. Pouncing on a rare defensive mix-up, Shaun Maloney found himself clean through. But the winger, a first-half substitute for the injured Carew, also hit his shot wide. As the following minutes proved, Villa’s big chance to get back into the game had gone begging.

At the other end, Ronaldo latched onto Scholes’ cross, but his volley deflected off Laursen and the crossbar. Then came the moment just about every United fan had wanted: Rooney's first league goal at home since October. Ronaldo backheeled the ball into Rooney’s path and the Reds forward rounded Carson, with Old Trafford holding its breath, and tapped the ball home. The roar of relief and jubiliation could have lifted the roof off.

Villa, to their credit, kept going. Kuszczak was forced into a great save from Maloney’s curling effort, tipping the ball onto the crossbar. The woodwork was taking a hammering as Rooney went close to his second after 65 minutes, his shot from 18 yards clipping the outside of the post.

The striker did grab his brace five minutes later as Ronaldo’s delightful nutmeg found Rooney to his left inside the box. With the wait for his first goal over, there was no nervousness, only a calm and assured finish inside Carson’s near post. Rooney was denied a hat-trick after turning home substitute Owen Hargreaves’ cross. However, the linesman had correctly ruled he was fractionally offside. No matter, there was enough to savour in an exemplary performance which takes United one step closer to retaining the title. There's still work to be done, but on this form the Reds have every reason to feel optimistic.