Manchester Utd - 3 Wigan Athletic - 1:This humdrum victory for Manchester United has a considerable impact on the league table with Alex Ferguson's team, inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo, now four points clear of Chelsea and bristling with a wicked sense of pleasure about the vulnerability of their main challengers.
The season of goodwill to all men? Not at Old Trafford, where Ferguson scarcely disguised his glee about a dreadful day for Jose Mourinho. United's goal difference is so superior to Chelsea's that they are, in effect, five points ahead and Ferguson could be seen, with 25 minutes still to play, with his back to the pitch, waving cheerily to his friends and family in the stand.
Ronaldo, a half-time substitute, had announced himself with two goals in his first five minutes of action and Old Trafford had rolled back the years for a classic Ole Gunnar Solskjaer strike beneath the Stretford End.
Ferguson looked a contented man and he was entitled to be on what he hopes will be a critical day in the title race. "Jose said last week we will drop points," said Ferguson, triumphant and increasingly bold in his public utterances, "but he doesn't seem to realise that they will drop points also. That's the nature of football; it can knock you on the head. We certainly didn't expect them to draw."
Ferguson then confessed there was a "lot of elation" when the result came through from Stamford Bridge. "The key is consistency and, if we can maintain the consistency we have shown in the first half of the season, we have a marvellous chance," he added.
Five days short of his 65th birthday, Ferguson did not look or speak like a man of near-pensionable age. His team, it is said, are keeping him young. This was not United at their exhilarating best but they were still comfortably better than Wigan and the margin of victory was made even more impressive given that this was one of those days when he chose to put his faith in understudies such as John O'Shea, Darren Fletcher, Wes Brown and the fit-again Park Ji-sung, making his first Premiership start since August 23rd.
The team selection was undoubtedly a risk but Wigan were obliging opponents. Paul Jewell's team have now lost all 13 of their games against the Premiership's Big Four in their two seasons in the top division and on an individual scale, Ferguson is now 7-0 up against Jewell.
Wigan lined up with an experimental 4-1-4-1 system, with Emile Heskey playing as a left-winger and Kevin Kilbane in central midfield, and they may have surprised themselves by making it to the interval with the game scoreless.
The parity at half-time owed much to United's failure early on to emulate their recent form, even if Wayne Rooney had two outstanding chances to put them ahead. The team looked flat and strangely subdued and the crowd longed for Ronaldo's arrival, howling his name and enthusiastically rising to their feet when he appeared on the touchline to limber up.
This has been the season when Ronaldo has overtaken Rooney as the team's most penetrative forward and within 90 seconds of his introduction he had made a decisive impact, directing a header of power and precision past Chris Kirkland from Paul Scholes's corner. Wigan's resistance had been broken and after that the game took on an air of inevitability.
The second came four minutes later when Gary Teale lost the ball to Park inside Wigan's penalty area and then carelessly tripped him up for a penalty. Ronaldo's first effort was saved but the rebound fell kindly for him to score his 10th league goal of the season.
Wigan suddenly looked ripe for a thrashing although another record Premiership crowd - 76,018 - will not mind too much that their dominance was rewarded only once more.
This time Solskjaer ran on to Rooney's header and held off Fitz Hall's challenge before finishing expertly beyond Kirkland.
Rooney, who was impressive in everything but his finishing, then hit the crossbar but, with Old Trafford fast emptying, the next goal was scored by the visitors, Leighton Baines lashing in a stoppage-time penalty after Mikael Silvestre had fouled David Wright.
For United, however, it was a minor inconvenience on an otherwise hugely satisfying day.
Guardian Service
