Ronaldo Fuels United's Charge

If there had to be a criticism, it was that Manchester United ought really to have won by a country mile. Two-nil scarcely reflected their superiority against a thoroughly outclassed Fulham side but Sir Alex Ferguson will content himself with the belief that the goals might come more easily this weekend when Derby County arrive at Old Trafford carrying the Premier League's wooden spoon.

The only good news for Derby is that Ferguson may be without Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand, both of whom had to be substituted. The bad news for United's opponents is that, on this form, Ferguson could probably leave out half of his defence and still expect to win comfortably. Last night they played as though affronted to find that Liverpool and Chelsea had overtaken them at the weekend with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring in each half to put them back into second position, three points behind Arsenal.

In the process Ronaldo took his personal tally to 13 goals for the season and leapfrogged Robbie Keane as the leading scorer in the Premier League. He might have had a hat-trick, too, but the referee Rob Styles denied him a penalty when he went over Fulham's excellent goalkeeper, Antti Niemi, and decided instead to book him for a dive. It was undoubtedly a case of Ronaldo's reputation preceding him but the sense of injustice was only a sub-plot to the real story, that of United winning with almost contemptuous ease.

The last time Fulham visited Old Trafford they were four goals down inside the opening 19 minutes and staring queasily at the prospect of utter humiliation. That was on the opening weekend of last season and it was remarkable that Fulham, remembering that chastening 5-1 defeat, should be so accommodating when Lawrie Sanchez had given them strict instructions to keep the game as tight as possible.

Had Carlos Tevez been more clinical with his finishing it is no exaggeration to say that United could have emulated, or surpassed, their emphatic start of last time. Ferguson's men were pressing from the first minute, all neat little flicks and slick, first-time passing. It was the kind of football that threatened to overwhelm their opponents, yet Fulham did themselves no favors either.

Steven Davis will not feel too good either when he sees a replay of the opening goal and his manager asks him what on earth he was doing. The exhilarating quality of United's attacking had created the early chances for Tevez but when the opening goal arrived it stemmed from a woefully misguided header from Davis on the edge of his own penalty area. The ball had come to the midfielder after Nemanja Vidic had flicked on Ryan Giggs's corner. It should have been a routine clearance but Davis inexplicably headed the ball back into the congested goalmouth where Vidic got another touch and Ronaldo slashed a right-foot volley into the top corner.

By this stage, Fulham resembled a lower-league outfit playing a cup tie at a Premier League side and struggling with stage fright. It felt bizarre, for instance, that there were no more goals before half-time, a fact that owed greatly to two splendid saves from Niemi to deny Tevez, excellent in everything but his finishing. At times in this period United were so dominant, indeed, that they operated in a 2-4-4 system, with the full-backs playing in midfield and the quartet of Ronaldo, Tevez, Giggs and the fit-again Wayne Rooney interchanging positions in attack, shimmering with menace.

Fulham, in fairness, did improve and they had reasonable claims for a penalty when Wes Brown collided with Clint Dempsey. Nonetheless, there was no element of surprise attached to Ferguson's men doubling their lead 13 minutes into the second half. From a Fulham perspective, it was another soft goal.

Yet it was also one that nobody could legitimately argue was undeserved. John O'Shea, who replaced Evra after 45 minutes, took a throw-in to Giggs close to the corner flag. Giggs played the ball back and O'Shea swung the ball into the penalty area where Ronaldo out jumped Dejan Stefanovic to divert his header beyond Niemi.