Ronaldo double ends drought as Manchester United tighten grip at top

Cristiano Ronaldo ended his ten-week Premier League goal drought by scoring twice as Manchester United moved three points clear at the top with an emphatic 5-0 win at West Brom on Tuesday.

West Brom, weakened by the first-half dismissal of captain Paul Robinson, were ripped apart by United, who heaped pressure on Liverpool ahead of their trip to Wigan on Wednesday with their dismantling of the Midlands outfit.

United went into this game on the back of a six-match winning streak in the league and with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar having not conceded a Premier League goal for ten games, so the task facing West Brom was always going to be their toughest of the season.

But Tony Mowbray’s team started brightly and certainly did not resemble an outfit lying at the foot of the table. Inside the opening five minutes, Marc-Antoine Fortune had a goalbound shot blocked by Rio Ferdinand before Michael Carrick hacked Robert Koren’s effort off the line.

United held firm, however, and their attacking trio of Dimitar Berbatov, Carlos Tevez and Ronaldo looked likely to score when they had the ball anywhere near the Albion goal.

The European champions spurned three good chances, however, before Bulgarian striker Berbatov netted his fifth goal in seven games with a classy finish from twelve yards after creating space for himself with a neat one-two with Carrick.

United deserved their lead and, having their noses in front, were unlikely to allow West Brom to claw them back and make a game of it.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s team are simply looking too strong at the moment, especially for a struggling team like Mowbray’s outfit.

The home side saw any hopes of a comeback wiped out on forty minutes, though, when referee Rob Styles dismissed captain Paul Robinson following a bruising collision with South Korean midfielder Park Ji-Sung.

Styles was castigated by the Albion supporters for the decision and, although replays suggested that Robinson did not go in with both feet, it was clearly a rash challenge and Park required lengthy treatment before climbing to his feet.

Albion were still seething at Robinson’s dismissal when Tevez doubled United’s lead four minutes later and made the game safe for the visitors. Goalkeeper Scott Carson’s failure to hold Ryan Giggs’s free-kick saw the ball drop at Tevez’s feet inside the six-yard box and the Argentinian gleefully fired into the open net to make it 2-0.

United were now on cruise control and the danger for the home side was that Ferguson’s team would go for the throat and attempt to boost their goal difference with an emphatic victory.

But West Brom fought manfully and defender Ryan Donk almost ended Van der Sar’s proud shut-out record with a fierce right-foot strike that rattled the near post on 54 minutes.

It was a brief glimmer of hope for the home side, though, and proved to be their last chance as United put their foot on the pedal and hit the goal trail.

First, Nemanja Vidic headed in a Giggs corner from six yards before Ronaldo completed the rout in style with two close range strikes following impressive build-up work by Giggs and Berbatov.

And to round off United’s night, Van der Sar established a new Premier League record by extending his shut-out run to 1,032 minutes.

It was a mauling by United, but their ruthlessness is what sets them apart from the rest. On this form, few will bet against Old Trafford hosting another title party in May.