P: United 3 - 1 Wigan
A dangerous opponent, a depleted team and the hot breath of Chelsea in pursuit, provide United with much to consider when they step out for a Boxing Day match with Wigan. The Villa Park stroll was a welcome return to form for United’s attack and more of the same will be required to break a spirited Wigan side who showed courage to come back from a two goal deficit against Chelsea, although they were undone by a last gasp Robben goal.
United also ran out victors against the Latics in the season’s earlier fixture and have a good record against their north west rivals. Added to that, Wigan have injury and suspension worries of their own, giving United ample motivation to chalk up another win.
14/10/06: Wigan 1 - 3 United
PREMIERSHIP RESULTS:
Chelsea 2 - 2 Reading; Tottenham H. 2 - 1 Aston Villa; West Ham U. 1 - 2 Portsmouth; Blackburn R. 1 - 0 Liverpool; Bolton W. 2 - 1 Newcastle; Everton 0 - 0 Middlesbrough; Sheffield U. 0 - 1 Manchester City; Watford 1 - 2 Arsenal
MATCH REPORT…
United 3 - 1 Wigan
Ronaldo (47, 50) ; Solskjaer (59) / Baines (90)
SKY …Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to score twice in five minutes as Manchester United beat Wigan Athletic 3-1 to move four points clear at the top of the Premiership.
Ronaldo was brought on for Darren Fletcher at half-time after a firt half in which wasteful finishing and Chris Kirkland’s inspired goalkeeping kept the game goalless.
But the introduction of the Portuguese winger, fresh from his match-winning display against Aston Villa on Saturday, ensured United took full advantage of Chelsea’s draw with Reading earlier in the day.
Ronaldo marked his arrival with a 47th minute header and then added another four minutes later, slotting home the rebound after his penalty had been saved
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, playing in attack alongside the recalled Wayne Rooney, added a third with a clinical finish in the 59th minute as Wigan’s defensive game plan was fully exposed, although they did get a goal late on courtesy of a Leighton Baines penalty.
Sir Alex Ferguson opted to rotate his squad, resting Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Louis Saha, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs from his starting XI, with Rooney partnering Solskjaer in attack.
United started strongly with Paul Scholes prominent as they immediately spread the play around with some first-time passing.
The first opportunity fell to Park Ji-sung in the third minute. The left-winger cut in before firing a low shot from 30 yards across the goal and just wide.
The best chance of the half fell to Rooney in the eighth minute, but the England striker was thwarted by a superb Chris Kirkland double save.
Right-back Wes Brown shrugged off the attention of Emile Heskey and, having worked his way into a crossing position, picked out a charging Rooney in the heart of the six-yard box.
Rooney made strong contact to send the ball goalwards, but had not counted on Kirkland’s athleticism.The Wigan goalkeeper threw himself to his right to block Rooney’s shot onto the post before scrambling to push the rebound away to safety.
Patrice Evra’s forward runs were creating an extra man for United in attack and he was instrumental in the creation of two chances in as many minutes mid-way through the opening half.
The left-back dragged a long-range shot wide and, two minutes later, was bundled off the ball after his thrusting run reached the edge of the penalty box.
It was all United by this stage, Wigan were content to sit back and soak up pressure presumably with the attention of stealing something with a quick counter-attack.
But even on the rare occasion the visitors did get the ball they proved incapable of holding it for long - a prime example coming in the 33rd minute when Darren Fletcher robbed Leighton Baines of possession before setting Rooney up with another shooting chance.
This time the United striker’s shot went just wide, while strike-partner Solskjaer headed straight at Kirkland just prior to the break.
Despite enjoying an almost exclusive hold on possession and territory, a combination of wasteful finishing and Kirkland’s brilliance ensured the first period finished goalless.
Ferguson decided to introduce Ronaldo for Fletcher at half-time and was immediately rewarded.
Ronaldo had been on the picth for just 68 seconds when he broke the deadlock by freeing himself of marker Fitz Hall and powerfully heading home Scholes’ pinpoint corner.
The lead was doubled just four minutes later after Gary Teale dwelt on the ball in the middle of Wigan’s penalty box and was robbed of possesion by the alert Park, who he promptly tripped to concede an obvious penalty.
Ronaldo took responsibility with the spot-kick, and despite his initital effort being well saved by Kirkland to his right, slotted the rebound with a minimum of fuss.
The game was finished as a contest with United’s third goal on 59 minutes. Rooney won a header to knock the ball forward and Solskjaer beat Hall to the ball and placed his finish into the left corner.
That allowed Ferguson to make further changes, Evra and Scholes both being given a rest.As the game began to drift, Rooney looked to cap his high energy display with a goal, but hit the bar after Ronaldo had freed him with a perfectly timed through ball.
Wigan got themselves a goal late on after Mikael Silvestre conceded a penalty with a clumsy challenge. Baines drilling it straight down the middle to reduce his side’s margin of defeat to 3-1.
TEAM
United: Van Der Sar; Brown; Evra (Heinze 70); Vidic; Silvestre; Fletcher (Ronaldo 45), O’Shea; Scholes (Richardson 62); Solskjaer; Rooney ; Park
Subs: Kuszczak; Saha
POST SCRIPT
Sir Alex: “The most important thing was the win. We made some changes, which was important also, because I have to utilise the pool [of players] as best I can. It is their opportunity to bring freshness into the team. It is a hectic programme but hopefully I think we’ve got the squad to cope with it.”
“There will be some difficult days ahead and you have to handle these days. You have to recover, as we did last week from the West Ham result. On Saturday and today we’ve shown we can bounce back. We’ve got character and we’ve got the desire to do it.”
Paul Jewell: “Today, Manchester United were better than us in all departments. They are a brilliant team, who play magnificent football. When you come to a place like this and you’re playing against the quality that you’re playing against, you need to keep it tight and get the crowd edgy. But we’ve given them a free header for a goal and a penalty where there was no danger. Once it was 2-0 it was always going to be uphill.”
