By Chris O'Brien
December 23 2006

A patient Manchester United side cruised to a 3-0 victory at Villa Park thanks to a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo and an amazing strike from Paul Scholes. The home side held the Red Devils until the interval, but the visitors turned on the style after the break to easily claim all three points.

Manchester United opened up a five-point gap at the top of the Premiership table with a comprehensive 3-0 victory against Aston Villa. Cristiano Ronaldo netted a brace and Paul Scholes found the target as the Red Devils ran rampant in a one-sided encounter at Villa Park.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men played put some mouth-watering attacking play together to outplay the Midlands outfit and further prove that United are as determined as ever to wrestle the league crown back from Chelsea. The United boss made changes to his starting line-up following last weekend's 1-0 defeat at West Ham. Darren Fletcher replaced the injured Michael Carrick whilst Wayne Rooney was dropped to the bench in favour of the South Korean international Park Ji-Sung.

United overcame an early scare as Craig Gardner headed against the woodwork but the visitors took control from there on. Villa stopper Gabor Kiraly, on-loan from Crystal Palace, was forced to make a save from Patrice Evra whilst surprise starter Park Ji-Sung should have done better has he sent a mis-hit shot well wide of the target. Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs were also both causing the home side problems but Martin O'Neill's men held out for the interval with parity in place.

However, it was after the break that United really found their form in what proved to be a 45-minute display of relentless attacking football. Ronaldo broke the deadlock with a superb solo run that started on the half-way line. The Portuguese international stormed through unchallenged, seeing his first shot blocked by Gary Cahill before stroking the ball past Kiraly.

The advance was doubled just six minutes later and the result was put beyond reasonable doubt. Paul Scholes, who later picked up his fifth booking of the season, volleyed an amazing 25-yard effort into the back of the net after Gavin McCann had headed a Ryan Giggs corner into his path.

With Villa struggling to match United's terrific pace and movement, the win was tied up with just five minutes left on the clock. Ronaldo was again the scorer as the Red Devils produced a superb attacking move that was testimony to their impressive style of play so far this season. Substitute Wayne Rooney played a neat through-ball to Gary Neville on the right-hand side with the United captain sliding in a cross for the number seven to poke home from close range. Superb.

The Red Army will now be hoping that Lancashire rivals Wigan can cause an upset and earn a positive result against Chelsea in Saturday's evening kick-off. However, regardless of the result at the JJB Stadium; United will be top of the tree on Christmas Day!

Full Time - Aston Villa 0-3 Manchester United
Attendance - 42,551

Aston Villa: Kiraly, Hughes, Mellberg, Cahill, Barry, Agbonlahor, McCann (Angel 76), Gardner, Petrov, Davis, Sutton.
Subtitutes Not Used: Olejnik, Baros, Bouma, Ridgewell.

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher, Park (Rooney 66), Scholes (Silvestre 88), Giggs (O'Shea 88), Saha.
Subtitutes Not Used: Kuszczak, Brown.