Wigan 0 Manchester United 4:A McCARTHY witch hunt needs an air of paranoia and a persecuted "red". Alex Ferguson provided the former at the DW Stadium, where he accused the media of being agenda-driven and exaggerating Wayne Rooney's elbow into the side of James McCarthy's head.

The latter could yet follow in a Football Association charge that deprives Manchester United of their number 10 against Chelsea and Liverpool.

Mark Clattenburg, the referee on Saturday, dealt with the ninth-minute incident by awarding a free-kick to Wigan Athletic and having a quiet word with the transgressor.

However, Rooney will be fast-tracked on to a violent conduct charge if Clattenburg, having reviewed the collision, recommends further punishment in the official match report he must submit before 4pm today.

The England international will have until 6pm tomorrow to respond to any charge.

If he accepts it, Rooney’s ban will commence immediately and rule him out of the Chelsea game as well as those against Liverpool and either Leyton Orient or Arsenal in the FA Cup.

Should he contest it, the striker would be able to play against Chelsea but risks a four-match suspension identical to that received by Rio Ferdinand last season when he contested a violent conduct charge for striking Hull’s Craig Fagan and saw the ban extended by one game for making a frivolous appeal.

Ferguson reacted as expected when the prospect of Rooney receiving a three-match ban spoiled his take on an otherwise serene start to a decisive week in the title race.

“There is nothing in it,” said the United manager. “But, what will happen, the question has been asked and, because it is Wayne Rooney, the press will raise a campaign to get him hung by Tuesday or electrocuted or something like that. It is unbelievable.”

Roberto Martinez, the Wigan manager, facing a far greater punishment in the form of relegation from the Premier League, countered: “If one of my players had done that, I’d be very surprised to see him stay on the pitch.”

Some may contend that Rooney’s absence would not hurt the Premier League leaders as once it might. Certainly the explosive pace that tore through Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium 13 months ago is lacking this season; so too the ability to bend a contest to his destructive will.

Yet he helped create Javier Hernandez’s two goals at the DW, scored the third and lends a presence to the United attack that the Mexican and Dimitar Berbatov do not. By any standards other than Rooney’s this was not a contribution to demean.

The shame for United, apart from any action by the FA, is that his recklessness detracted from the 12th and 13th goals of Hernandez’s outstanding debut season in English football.

It did the same from a pivotal contribution from Edwin Van der Sar, who saved two one-on-ones in a first half that Wigan edged, and another composed display by Chris Smalling alongside the imperious Nemanja Vidic.

Hernandez, the Mexican striker nicknamed Chicharito, or Little Pea, has proved that if you give him a sniff of goal, he will score.

The 22-year-old boasts an incredible ratio of goals per shots on target. After notching two here, statistics from data company Opta revealed Hernandez has scored nine league goals from just 13 shots on target. But of his 18 league appearances, only eight have been from the first whistle.

United were the perpetrators of the witch hunt against McCarthy, with Paul Scholes guilty of a “really nasty” foul on the influential Wigan midfielder, according to his manager.

“When you’ve got two different players affecting the same player it’s quite clear that you’re using your experience to get a reaction from them,” said Martinez. “Wayne Rooney was the man who was picking very good positions when we were on the ball and he was starting counter-attacks. And playing against 10 men – I’m not saying we would have won the game, but I would prefer to play against 10 men any time. Obviously United would have needed to change things round, they cannot play in the same manner and you can take advantage.”

Wigan were enterprising for three-quarters of the contest but, as Van der Sar foiled Victor Moses, McCarthy and Maynor Figueroa, he sowed in the home side the doubt that they could not compete with United’s quality in attack. They were correct.

Hernandez produced two clinical finishes, one from Nani’s low cross and a second when released by Rooney, before the substitute Berbatov sprinted clear of a dishevelled Wigan defence to create the third for the England international.

Further gloss was applied to the scoreline when Fabio converted Darren Fletcher’s deep cross for his first United goal and that should have been that.

Clattenburg and the FA, however, may decide otherwise.