Manchester United 2 Fulham 0: Reds move ten points clear
These are carefree days at Manchester United. Old Trafford, bathed in spring sunshine, witnessed the most routine of victories from the club's back-up players against insipid Fulham.
A record-breaking and hugely satisfying 19th league title looms as United moved 10 points clear; a Champions League semi-final against Schalke is a distinct possibility, and a Wembley date against noisy neighbours a mouthwatering prospect.
So benign is the atmosphere at Old Trafford at present that owners Joel, Bryan and Avram Glazer risked a visit unaccompanied by a phalanx of minders, and nowadays there is barely a green-and-gold scarf in sight. Premier League titles, it seems, not religion, is the opium of the masses.
1-0: Dimitar Berbatov opens the scoring for Manchester United
It was difficult to recall that this is supposedly an embattled club, with fans raging against owners, the manager against the authorities and the star player against who knows whom.
A five-match touchline ban for Sir Alex Ferguson has coincided with three successive wins, while the absence of Wayne Rooney mattered not a jot yesterday.
Ferguson can stop tilting at windmills; he is winning all the battles that matter.
Tougher tests lie ahead this week, and on those games their season will be judged. But it was difficult to escape the general aura of wellbeing yesterday - even Michael Owen got a run out.
The only real blot on the landscape was Ferguson's horse, What A Friend, pulling up at the Grand National, but nothing that happened inside the stadium yesterday should have unduly troubled the wily old master.
2-0: Antonio Valencia heads the ball in from close range
Not that Ferguson saw it that way. 'I don't think it was a job well done at all,' he grumbled. 'But winning is the name of the game and we showed that great determination. It was a hot sticky day and a lot of people were sunbathing.'
Fulham players mainly. 'You have to give yourself a platform if you're coming to places like this,' said their manager Mark Hughes. 'You need everyone playing well, you need your chances to go in and you really need to compete, which we didn't in the first half.'
Fulham had started as though they had genuinely considered the prospect of making the game a contest. Just 50 seconds were on the clock when Gael Kakuta forced Tomasz Kuszczak into a smart save and five minutes later the Polish goalkeeper, in for Edwin van der Sar, had to touch Moussa Dembele's shot wide.
Fulham's best chance, however, fell to Bobby Zamora. Played in between United's defence, he had clear sight of goal but pulled his effort wide.
Soon after they were a goal behind, and their desire for a struggle appeared to dissipate.
United took the lead when Nani, a constant threat and playing like a man determined to book his place in the Champions League quarter-final, wriggled from two challenges, exchanged passes with Anderson then placed the ball at the feet of Dimitar Berbatov, who was given the attacker's benefit of a marginal offside decision.
His finish was a confident sidefoot past Mark Schwarzer, his 21st goal in the league this season. Not bad for a support act.
Reasons to be cheerful: Ferguson's United are ten points clear in the title race
The second, 'a comedy of errors', according to Hughes, was also inspired by Nani. Patrice Evra chipped a ball down the wing for the Portugal winger, who delightfully slipped past the hopelessly rampaging Schwarzer.
He then steadied himself for a cross, which deflected off Aaron Hughes for Antonio Valencia, almost on the goalline, to nod in.
In fairness, a half-time encounter with Hughes did something to spark Fulham out of their lethargy. A sustained period of possession eventually resulted in a decent shot from Eidur Gudjohnsen being tipped wide by Kuszczak - not that referee Michael Jones, who awarded a goalkick, noticed.
But the derision that greeted Kakuta's 65th minute free-kick, which almost reached the second tier of the East Stand, gave a better indication of the seriousness with which Old Trafford was treating Fulham's challenge.
Zamora's free-kick on 73 minutes was at least close and Chris Baird should have done better than shoot wide as United slackened their intensity and were, as their manager said, increasingly drawn deep.
Indeed, when Berbatov troubled Schwarzer in the 82nd minute it was their first strike on goal in almost 20 minutes.
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