Premier League: Man United 3 Aston Villa 1

Wayne Rooney found his scoring touch to fire Manchester United to a 3-1 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford.

The England striker has struggled in front of goal all season, despite impressing in all other aspects of his game, but netted two first-half strikes to set the Red Devils on the road to victory.Villa briefly threatened a second-half comeback when Darren Bent hit his second goal since making a 24-million-pound switch from Sunderland with his only meaningful touch of the game.But Nemanja Vidic smashed in a third to seal the victory and extend United’s unbeaten run to 24 Premier League games this season.United were ahead inside 50 seconds with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar the unlikely architect of the goal. The 40-year-old, who will retire at the end of the season, was alert enough to launch aquick 80-yard free-kick that Rooney got to ahead of Richard Dunne before smashing his shot into the top corner.Nani had a penalty claim when he was barged over by Dunne and before the Portuguese winger hit a rasping 20-yard shot that brought a fine save from Brad Friedel as United tried to build on their lead.Friedel made good stops from Patrice Evra and Dimitar Berbatov before a deserved second finally came on the stroke of half-time. Nani created space on the wing with some quick footwork before whipping in a pinpoint cross for Rooney to slot home.Villa started the second half much brighter and pulled a goal back in the 58th minute. Stuart Downing broke at pace and laid a perfect cross for Bent to fire home past Van der Sar.But five minutes later, United’s two-goal advantage was restored when Rooney laid the ball back for Vidic to smash in a curling shot from 15 yards with Friedel rooted to the spot.Ashley Young’s curling effort clipped the top of the crossbar as the visitors tried to fight their way back into the game, though the goals seemed more likely to come at the other end as Berbatov blasted high over the bar and Rooney was denied a hat-trick by Friedel.