ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Manchester Utd 3 Fulham 0:THERE IS more excitement in reading the Premier League table than in recalling the match that sent Manchester United to the top of it.

Alex Ferguson’s team, with a game more played, are two points clear of Chelsea. Any accolades for the latest win by the champions must concern their professionalism.

There is seldom a good time for a mid-table side to visit Old Trafford, but the scheduling was particularly taxing for Fulham. On Thursday evening they had played a Europa League match at Juventus and been depleted by a 3-1 loss. Roy Hodgson made four changes to his line-up for this meeting with United.

That step arose from necessity more than any conviction that there is such genuine depth in his squad.

It was a trying day for Fulham, who lost the centre-half Brede Hangeland to a muscle problem in the second half. While the match was goalless at the interval, the prospect of them keeping a clean sheet had been slight. Wayne Rooney, on current form, will not tolerate such an outcome.

Two goals here took his tally for United in this campaign to 32. It is easy to lose interest when peering into a thicket of statistics, but the strike rate has quickened in this critical phase, with 24 goals in the last 22 outings with United.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s insistence on leaving for Real Madrid was potentially dismaying, but Rooney has converted himself into a virtual equivalent of the prolific Portuguese.

There are barriers to be surmounted before such statistics can be achieved and not all of them are built by the opposition. After the glamour of beating Milan 4-0 last week, this game could not have stimulated United. The syndrome had been apparent, too, on Saturday when Arsenal could not find sharpness in a game in which they defeated Hull City only in stoppage time.

United, aware of that psychological factor, might have been slightly uneasy. These opponents, after all, had been a cause of pain.

The United players appreciate the effectiveness Fulham can have, particularly at Craven Cottage. Ferguson, forced to send out a makeshift centre-half pairing composed of the midfielders Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher, had seen United beaten 3-0 there in December.

It would still be a falsehood to suggest that the squad was frothing with desire for vengeance. A match that kicked off at 1.30pm looked, in the first-half, like the sort of match that might have been played a couple of hours earlier by hungover men in parks football.

Gary Neville had some feckless moments. In the 14th minute he lost the ball to Simon Davies, who shot slightly high. Near the interval, Neville then played a pass so poor that it put Antonio Valencia in enough trouble for him to commit a foul and collect a booking.

United still did the bulk of the attacking, but were at risk when Danny Murphy found Bobby Zamora and the striker’s volleyed chip went slightly high. Throughout all the uncertainty, it still looked inevitable that Rooney would make his talent count. The second half had barely begun when he played a pass to the left-winger Nani, collected the return and side-footed a shot low into the corner of the net.

The goal did not galvanise United, but they exercised more control and Rio Ferdinand, for instance, volleyed over from a corner. By then, too, the visitors had been destabilised by the loss of Hangeland, with Chris Baird stepping back to deputise.

When they threatened it was because a deflection put the ball behind Nemanja Vidic, but Bobby Zamora dithered and the United centre-half recovered to block his attempt. As if realising that they might still be at risk, Ferguson’s team then scored again. Berbatov brought down a pass from Carrick, broke clear on the right and picked out Rooney, who shot past Mark Schwarzer in the 84th minute. On the verge of full-time, Rooney fired a pass to the right and the substitute Park Ji-sung’s cross was headed in by Berbatov.

There might have been other goals, with Schwarzer pulling off some outstanding saves. The home side were assisted by weariness in the ranks of the opposition, but they still enjoyed a victory that ensures their goal difference is superior to that of Chelsea and Arsenal.

Ferguson’s men have to ready themselves for a key period. The next two League games at Old Trafford pit them against Liverpool and Chelsea. It is a gruelling spell that also includes the beginning of the Champions League quarter-final. The squad, all the same, does have an enviable store of experience. They illustrated that while taking an emphatic win from an uneven display.

Guardian Service