Ronaldo 2-0
Tevez 3-0
Ashton 3-1
Carrick 4-1
Manchester so close to the title
Manchester United took an effortless step towards retaining their Premier League title with an elementary home win over West Ham. Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice to take his tally for the season to 40 in all competitions, and Carlos Tevez and Michael Carrick found the net against their former club, despite Nani being sent off in the first half. Dean Ashton replied for the visitors.
United are now three points clear of Chelsea, who travel to Newcastle on Monday, and Sir Alex Ferguson believes the result against West Ham has put his side in the driving seat. "It's been a great day for us and we've got a big chance," he said. "The way Chelsea have been talking is that it'll be easy up there [in Newcastle] - but we know that's not the case.
"Our players have been absolutely fantastic this season," he added. "We were down to 10 men today and I said try to run the clock down, keep possession and be patient in the second half. I'm very pleased as there was a bit of tiredness."
In the build-up to this match, the Chelsea manager Avram Grant expressed annoyance about Alan Curbishley's declaration that it would be "a great injustice" if United were not crowned champions this season. Grant, however, insisted that he didn't doubt West Ham's integrity but the Hammers did not play like a side determined to prove their commitment. Thanks to appalling West Ham defending, United scored with their first attack.
In the third minute, Ronaldo picked up a Park Ji-sung pass on the right, Lucas Neill slipped, and the Portuguese cantered into the box to fire past Robert Green. Easy as that.
Shambolic remained the word for West Ham, who continued to offer United's forwards the freedom of the park. Even though the visitors should have been awarded a penalty when Wes Brown handled the ball in the United box, a second goal for the home side looked inevitable; it was a surprise that it did not arrive until the 24th minute – though it was not a surprise that the visitors' absurd defending was again a contributory factor. Owen Hargreaves clipped a cross in from the right and centre-back James Tomkins completely missed his header, allowing Ronaldo to divert it into the net with his knee for his 30th league goal of the season.
"How many players could score that many?" said Ferguson. "He is improving all the time. He always wants the ball, which takes a lot of courage, and don't forget, while he played up front today, he has spent 90% of the season on the wing."
Two minutes later United were three up, former Hammer Carlos Tevez smacking a swirling shot past Green from 25 yards.
But two minutes after that, West Ham turned up. Even more shocking, they made their entrance in spectacular fashion, Dean Ashton holding off Rio Ferdinand before pulling a goal back with a splendid overhead kick that left Ferguson fretting on the touchline. "He was a United fan as a kid but scored a goal which could have killed our hopes," admitted the manager afterwards.
Still, it was clear that if West Ham were to make a comeback they would need United to act as accomplices in their own downfall. In the 37th minute, Nani made a stab at that, reacting to a harmless skirmish at the edge of the box by thrusting his head at Neill. The Australian made the most of the contact, collapsing in false agony - and then the aggressor tried to dupe the referee by doing the same. Mike Riley was not fooled, however, and after consulting his assistant issued Nani with a deserved red card. It was an incident that took the sheen off United's display and left Ferguson promising darkly to "deal with it" before adding that Nani had shown "a measure of immaturity".
West Ham momentarily raised their game but even against 10 men they did not look like troubling Edwin van der Sar again, and soon the match sunk back into its first-half pattern. In the 59th minute, Carrick collected the ball in midfield and ambled forward unburdened by any semblance of a tackle. Once he got within range he let fly and a ricochet off Neill helped his 25-yarder on its way past Green.
Although United were not having to exert themselves much, Ferguson decided to give Ronaldo a rest, withdrawing him just after the hour mark. His replacement, Darren Fletcher, almost added a fifth for United moments later but his low shot after a sweeping United move cannoned off the post. Hargreaves then had two opportunities to add his name to the scorers, first hitting a 20-yard free-kick just wide and then failing to control the ball when Giggs sent him scampering through on goal.
Not until the 78th minute did West Ham muster a second shot on target, Bobby Zamora blasting straight at Van der Sar from 20 yards.
If Chelsea are to take the title, they will need Steve Bruce's Wigan to put up a much tougher fight against United next week than Curbishley's men did today.
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