Manchester Utd 4 Wigan Athletic 0:Nine league games gone and Manchester United are starting to click. Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez are finding the net, Cristiano Ronaldo is reaching his destructive best and the new midfielders Anderson and Nani are playing as to the manor born.

Perhaps just as significantly United can slot in two tyro defenders, Gerard Pique and Danny Simpson, without losing a beat. All of which means Alex Ferguson's side are coming nicely to the boil for their visit to Arsenal on November 3rd.

Gone was the frustration of six 1-0 victories this season that led to Ferguson bemoaning his side's inability to score enough goals. Instead came a fluidity and vibrancy from players who could feel they were close to recapturing the understanding that carried them to the title last May. "It seems to be coming together," said Ferguson, cautiously.

Chief among the talents on Saturday was Tevez, whose phenomenal work-rate was acknowledged by a standing ovation when he left the pitch in the 81st minute.

Wigan must have been glad to see the back of him, the Argentinian having been a thorn in their side since they joined forces with Sheffield United in an attempt to have points deducted from West Ham United over their registration of the player.

On Saturday it was Tevez's run on to Anderson's pass in the second half that ended Wigan's resistance and put United into top gear, his drag-back leaving Kevin Kilbane and Titus Bramble heading for the advertising hoardings before his skip around the goalkeeper Chris Kirkland gave him an unguarded net to shoot at.

"What went on in the past we're not interested in," said Wigan's manager Chris Hutchings. "He's an excellent player and he took his chance well today. He's very strong physically, he's quick, he's got great ability and a good touch and we didn't deal with that."

Hutchings could not hide his disappointment. His Wigan side, with a five-man midfield biting into United's "fancy dans", had done an admirable job in keeping the home side at bay until that point.

But once the visitors went behind they had no choice but to go in search of an equaliser, giving Ferguson's side the sort of openings up front that they can punish expertly. "You try and counter-attack them and they counter counter-attack and you are vulnerable when that happens," said Hutchings.

Significantly, too, Tevez and Rooney gave the lie to the theory two natural number 10s could not lead the frontline together, linking well, managing not to get in each other's way and hitting on a fluid rotation system that allowed Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs to pop up as strikers when the occasion demanded.

"Well that's a bit of a myth, isn't it?" Hutchings said. "All good players can normally play with one another. They're very similar but they will cause any teams problems."

Wigan, it has to be said, were the sort of team that United needed to host as they sought some form. This was the sixth meeting between the sides and the Latics have obligingly shipped 20 goals and lost every one.

But it was also no coincidence that Ferguson had switched back to a tried-and-trusted 4-4-2, possibly prompted by the absence of Michael Carrick, whose misplaced passing and poor decision-making has been a feature of United's slow start to the season.

Gone, therefore, was the experiment of two deep-lying midfielders, Carrick and Paul Scholes, playing behind an attacking trio and a lone striker. Back came width and two midfielders, Scholes and Anderson - the Brazilian having come in as a catalogue of injuries deprived United of the substitute Louis Saha (injured in the warm-up), Nemanja Vidic (concussion) and John O'Shea (dead-leg) - who were looking to get forward as frequently as possible.

It may not be the way Ferguson wants to set out his stall in Europe but it went down well in the Stretford End - although they may well have preferred 4-2-4. A sixth successive clean sheet in the league, meanwhile, is the best run in United's history.

Tevez's goal was prefaced by Giggs hitting the angle of bar and post and thereafter United quickly recaptured their old freedom of expression.

Ronaldo scored from an easy header when Kirkland palmed Giggs's cross into the air, then the Portuguese winger tapped in Rooney's pass from Pique's inspired through ball. Rooney's header was his second goal in two games, which will be encouraging news for England. "We know there's goals within this team, goals from everywhere," said Giggs.

"We needed a spark and Carlos provided it," said Ferguson. "The second-half performance was absolutely superb. We speeded the game up and the flow was much better. There was excellent interplay between the strikers, and it seems to be coming together. While there is still a long way to go, I have a lot of confidence in this squad."