Tevez Double Powers United Four-by-four

Manchester United moved back to the top of the Premier League table and equaled a 100-year-old record by hitting four goals in a fourth consecutive game. Arsenal are likely to provide an end to the sequence next weekend, though with Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez in this form you wouldn't necessarily bank on it.

Middlesbrough were not quite the punch bags the scoreline might suggest, though at the moment Gareth South gate's well-mannered team are ideal opponents for anyone seeking to boost confidence or goal difference. They tried to take on United at football, and while they certainly showed they can play, they only ended up being played off the park.

'We are just minutes away from another Premier League classic,' the Old Trafford announcer intoned shortly before kick off, either looking into a crystal ball or assuming that patronizing the paying public was part of his job.

No one was complaining six minutes into the game, however, for even by that early stage the afternoon had been graced by two goals of breathtaking quality. United's opener was simply staggering, a 30-yard screamer from Nani that caused jaws to drop all around the stadium and left Luke Young and Jonathan Wood gate feeling particularly foolish for allowing the winger to saunter in from the left touchline and shoot at his leisure. Maybe Boro thought from that distance he could do no harm, in which case everyone now knows differently.

United could have had a second almost immediately, when Cristiano Ronaldo sent Tevez through Boro's risky offside trap, though David Wheater managed to make him hurry and an attempted chip of the goalkeeper landed safely in Mark Schwarzer's arms. Boro at that moment looked as ghastly as their lamentable strip - described as gold in the brochure, though in reality more like beige or biscuit - yet within a minute they were level with a cleverly worked goal. Tuncay showed perseverance as well as skill in twisting and turning on the right wing until a crossing opportunity became available, and when he did swing the ball across it was sweetly met by the head of Jeremie Aliadiere, standing in plenty of space near the penalty spot in front of with Rio Ferdinand right behind him in the role of interested spectator.

Tuncay carved United open again just before the half hour with another accurate cross, only this time Stewart Downing was the recipient of the free header and he was unable to summon Aliadiere's accuracy. Downing's miss was immediately made to look worse when the Boro winger inadvertently set up a second goal for United. Wanting too much time in his own penalty area, Downing saw the ball whisked off his toe by Nani and diverted into the path of Rooney, who did not need asking twice to smash a venomous shot past Schwarzer.

Ronaldo shot straight at Schwarzer before the interval, then missed an even easier chance with the goal at his mercy, before Nani decided to embarrass his manager with an outrageous piece of overacting. Sir Alex Ferguson had pleaded Ronaldo's case in the match program, arguing that Boro's perception of him as a diver was wide of the mark. Ronaldo was impeccably behaved on this occasion, yet when Nani was caught in the throat by a light brush of Fabio Rochemback's arm he writhed and flailed as if his life had been threatened. Never mind cheating, he should have been booked for bad acting.

Rooney began the second half wasting a good opportunity, but was able to make amends by helping create United's third goal by playing a one-two with Tevez in the area. Not just any old one-two either, after Anderson had sent a shrewd ball forward, Rooney back heeled a pass into the area he correctly anticipated Tevez would run into. United were having that sort of day, and when Nani and Anderson gain maturity and experience, the amount of creativity in the team could be unsurpassed even by the high standards set at Old Trafford over the years.

Boro are showing classic symptoms of that dreaded syndrome, the team that is too good to go down. They competed well here, were not overawed by United and showed enough flair and enterprise of their own to make their wretched run of recent results a mystery, yet their open approach allowed their opponents to play as they wished. Boro probably need to do some of the ugly things associated with survival, such as getting in their opponents' faces and grinding out a few scruffy victories. Conceding a fourth goal was inevitable, simply because United wanted it. Schwarzer did his best to block a shot from Tevez after Rooney had broken from half way, but when the ball came down from his point-blank save, it bounced over his line anyway.