Manchester United 2-0 West Ham United

The Red Devils are back on track beating the Hammers by 2 goals at Old Trafford on this midweek fixture. Carlos Tevez gets his first start after a month, facing his former club, while Wayne Rooney who faced his former club last match is dropped to the bench. Birthday boy Edwin van der Sar is given a rest giving Tomasz Kuszczak a first team start.

Celebrating his FIFPro World Footballer of the Year Award, Cristiano Ronaldo grabs both goals inside the half hour mark. Nonetheless, the main talking point of this match would be Dimitar Berbatov's flick that created Ronaldo's second goal. (video after the jump)

The home side started quick and aggressive.Three minutes in and United got their first chance. Nani cut a pass across the goal and Dimi got through but his shot was well blocked by skipper Matthew Upson. United continued the attacks and created many chances but couldn't find the finishing touch. That didn't last long, though.

With United committed a lot of bodies forward, West Ham's defense needed to be on their toes all the time to keep up. In the 14th minute, Nani, from the left, crossed to the middle to Ronaldo, who got away from his marker, and he finished it with his left foot. Ronaldo who was criticized after his last goal for not celebrating, showed his passion this time. Guess he just needed his confidence back and the FIFPro award should do the trick.

Throughout the first half, West Ham had been having trouble with their right defense. Seemed like most of United's meaningful attacks came from that direction. That was also the case when United got their second. Entering the half hour mark, Dimi got the ball forward to the touchline. Right when James Collins thought he had Dimi cornered, he stopped the ball with his left foot, pirouetted and flicked the ball over the challenge with his right. Dimi sent the ball across the six yard box and was met by Ronaldo who tapped it into the empty net.



United kept on creating chances until the halftime whistle. The second half was pretty dull, since the home side was leading comfortably. I didn't watch most of the second half but nothing really happened.

Line up: Kuszczak; Rafael (Neville 82), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Ronaldo, Fletcher (Carrick 68), Anderson, Nani (Rooney 68); Tevez, Berbatov.
Subs not used: Giggs, Foster, Park, O'Shea.

Look at the team we have! Even the bench itself would get other teams scared.