Ronaldo is Spot on As United Stay in the Driving Seat

This was nothing like Manchester United at their best yet they do not hand out points for artistic impression. The result could still end up as one of the most significant of the season.

With Liverpool having to face ­Chelsea tomorrow and Everton in the Cup in midweek there was no better time for United to post a seventh successive ­victory in the three weeks that have passed since Rafa Benítez opened fire on Sir Alex ­Ferguson. Liverpool have still not ­managed a single win in that period, which is one of the reasons why United are now five points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Ferguson gave his old pal David Moyes the most generous of ­welcomes to Old Trafford, praising Everton's extra­ordinary resilience and describing them as the big Premier League ­success story of the past five years, though as the visitors still have no strikers and Manchester United are back to something ­approaching their strongest it was not too difficult to guess how the game would pan out.

The only question was how long it would take United to break ­Everton down, given that their title rivals ­Liverpool have not found that an easy task in the past couple of weeks. Tim Howard made his first save after seven minutes, diving to his right to keep out a cross from Park Ji-Sung that threatened to sneak in at the far post, and was kept constantly busy afterwards.

The Everton goalkeeper stopped a Carlos Tevez shot at point-blank range five minutes later, saved again from the same player after Cristiano Ronaldo had hit a post from the edge of the ­penalty area, and arched backwards to tip a ­dipping effort from Ronaldo over the bar just before the half hour.

Edwin van der Sar was not exactly idle at the other end – he had to be alert to Everton's occasional threat from set pieces – though a goalkeeper who last conceded a league goal in early November looking to set a new English record for staying unbeaten must have been perfectly content to watch Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini pitting their wits against Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. Fellaini did get in Vidic's face to the extent of making his mouth bleed midway through the first half, though the defender played on after the clash of heads, probably spitting out hair for the rest of the evening.

Ronaldo came in from the left wing in search of the ball as the deadlock continued, only to find himself just as closely policed by Phil Neville as he had been by Tony Hibbert. The winger did find Michael Carrick with a chipped pass towards the end of the first half, but though Carrick controlled the ball on his chest and unleashed a volley expertly enough the ball flashed the wrong side of a post.

Just when Everton thought they had done enough to turn round level, or at least were congratulating themselves on taking everything United could throw at them in the first half, the visitors were undone by quite a low blow. Mikel Arteta unintentionally caught Carrick's back leg just inside the penalty area, the United player tumbled to the ground and Mark Halsey, with a good view and after a momentary deliberation, pointed to the spot.

It was hardly what you would call a trip, and there is no suggestion either that Carrick dived or exaggerated his fall, but once contact was made and the player went over the referee had little option but to penalize Everton. Off target with an earlier free-kick, Ronaldo scored confidently from the spot to leave Moyes, who Ferguson insists is not a moaner, with a half-time grievance.

Arteta had a chance to make amends with a free kick at the start of the ­second half, yet put it closer to the Everton fans in the corner of the ground than Van der Sar's goal. Carrick had another claim for a penalty moments later, when he ran on to John O'Shea's shrewd pass and was bundled off the ball by Joleon Lescott, though it would have been even harsher than the first had it been given and ­Halsey decided against it.

United were much more fluent once in the lead, however, and with ­Everton pretty much resigned to their fate there were more signs of invention and ­adventure from Tevez, Ronaldo and even ­Dimitar Berbatov, a player so laid-back he even managed to shrug in response to a question in the match program.

The hyperactive Tevez was on the end of most attacks, shooting wide from Park's cross and bringing another save from Howard when he tried to curl the ball round him, though the danger from Everton set pieces continued and Van der Sar had to react quickly when Arteta got his next free-kick through the wall and on target.

While leading by a single goal United could never be completely comfortable, even if there was never really much doubt that Van der Sar would set an English record for not conceding a goal. Stephen ­Pienaar did get a shooting chance at a time when he might have preserved Steve Death's 20-year-old record by a matter of seconds, but he skied his 72nd-minute shot and enabled Van der Sar to sail untroubled past 1,103 minutes.