Manchester United vs Fulham: The Reds go marching on

Manchester United opened up a 10 point gap atop the Barclays Premier League with a comfortable 2-0 win over Fulham, thanks to goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Antonio Valencia. With this fixture being sandwiched between the exhilarating United-Chelsea Champions League quarter final tie, Sir Alex was expected to tread cautiously as far as team selection was concerned. It was bound to get trickier as Rooney started his two game ban following his use of abusive language on camera as part of his hat-trick celebration at West Ham last week.

Fulham had no answer to Nani's Pace and Trickery

However, Sir Alex sprung a major surprise retaining only skipper Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Antonio Valencia from the United side that won for the first time in nine years at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Berbatov started on his own up front with Anderson furthest forward among a midfield trio also comprising of Paul Scholes and Darron Gibson. O’Shea replaced Rafael at right back, Nani started on the left and Chris Smalling got a chance to get one up on his former employers.

Having rung such wholesale changes, it wasn’t surprising that it was United’s opponents who started the brighter of the sides with first Kakuta (on loan from Chelsea) and then Dembele drawing smart saves from Tomsaz Kuszcazk. It was Mark Hughes’ safest bet who had the best chance for Fulham as the ball broke to him on the right edge of the area, but Zamora could not even hit the target.

Berbatov's rich vein of Goal Scoring Form continued against Fulham

Any nerves that might have been jangling among the Old Trafford faithful were soon calmed as Nani forayed from the left to ride a challenge from Danny Murphy, then played a delightful one-two with Anderson on the edge of the area and served Berbatov on the left who clinically slotted home past the outstretched hands of Mark Schwarzer. Fulham had a case for off-side but when even replays in slow motion could not give a definite picture, you simply have to hand it over to the linesman to give the attacker the benefit of the doubt.

Valencia: A goal well deserved

United were soon to double their advantage and as Nani latched on to a immaculately timed pass from Patrice Evra, ran around the on rushing Mark Schwarzer and chipped towards goal. Aaron Hughes stretched his necks as much as he could to get some sort of contact; unfortunately for him all he could do was help it on to Valencia who nodded in one of the easiest goals he will ever score. Given all that he had gone through this year and the revelation he has been post his return he more than deserved a goal.

The second half saw Anderson coming close after being set up by Berbatov who had latched onto a hashed clearance from Schwarzer. With United in cruise control, Mark Hughes brought on former Chelsea and Barcelona forward, Eidur Gudjohnsen and deployed him in more of an advanced central midfield role. He brought out the save of the match from United’s Polish goalie as he parried an effort that seemed destined for the top corner. There was little goalmouth action with the possible exception of Darron Gibson going for placement instead of power. giving Schwarzer goal keeping practice and on the other end, Baird emerging from right back to volley over the crossbar from a Bobby Zamora cross. Micheal Owen replaced Valencia but could not make much of an impact as looks to extend his stay at Old Trafford.

It was a case of Manchester United winning in second gear and Fulham despite their recent record (1 loss in 4) against the league leaders lacking the belief that they could get something from the fixture.

Player of the Season candidate, Nani caused Chris Baird all sorts of problems as he raked in two more assists in what has been his most productive season. Sir Alex, not just the most successful but also the most experienced perhaps knew that at this stage of the season the easier games are probably against mid-table teams than those tangled in a relegation battle, therefore went for what was by far not United’s strongest lineup but came away with a walk-in-the-park victory. Come Tuesday, United will be up against another London side and it is going to be far from a stroll, but as far as the league is concerned, just five wins separate Manchester United from a record NINETEEN titles.

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