Man Utd 4-0 Watford

Manchester United guaranteed Sir Alex Ferguson a good night's sleep by maintaining their six-point lead at the Premiership summit with a 4-0 stroll against rock-bottom Watford.



In the aftermath of the gut-wrenching defeat at Arsenal 10 days ago, Ferguson admitted he `did not sleep a wink' as he mulled over the manner of the last-gasp loss.

But there will be no need for the Scot to burn the midnight oil in his Wilmslow home again as United roused themselves after a lethargic start to eventually romp home, extending their goal difference advantage over Chelsea to 14 in the process.

• Fergie signals determination

After Cristiano Ronaldo had slammed the hosts in front with his 14th goal of the season and Lloyd Doyley had doubled their lead with an unfortunate own goal, Henrik Larsson and Wayne Rooney also found the target as United recorded their biggest win since a similar sized success at Bolton three months ago.

Ferguson had already made it clear he intends to fully utilise his squad over the crucial final third of the campaign so - with a far more testing visit to Tottenham looming on Sunday - it was no surprise Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar and Larsson were all omitted from the hosts' starting line-up.

Kieran Richardson was one of the men given a rare opportunity but he did not make much of a case for more regular appearances in a lacklustre start which epitomised the general United effort.

In pulling 10 men behind the ball at every opportunity, Watford succeeded in denying their hosts space and their goal had barely been threatened when Jay Demerit instinctively tugged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's shirt as the Norwegian attempted to reach Rooney's lay-off.

Thankfully for United, eagle-eyed referee Mike Dean spotted the infringement and up stepped Ronaldo to slam the ball past Richard Lee.

The goal hardly served to send an extra sense of urgency through the home ranks and it was more through luck than judgement that they were not pegged back when Tomasz Kuszczak misread his angles as he attempted to turn Chris Powell's cross over the bar and instead pushed it onto his own post.

It was probably the shock United needed as their attacking play suddenly did become more incisive.

With Ronaldo and Rooney - both restored to Ferguson's starting line-up - growing in influence, so the Red Devils started to carve out an increasing number of chances.

Nemanja Vidic was not far off with two headers from Michael Carrick corners and Richardson saw his shot flash onto the roof of Watford's net.

The Red Devils maintained their focus after the break too, with Rooney and Ronaldo both going close before Richardson curled over the cross which Doyley, with Ronaldo breathing down his neck, stuck out his head to nod into his own net.

To all intents and purposes, it was game over. But United, mindful of how close the title battle could turn out to be, went for the jugular.

Lee had already pulled off one stupendous save to prevent Adrian Mariappa scoring a second own goal before the Red Devils really cut loose.

Five minutes after his introduction for Solskjaer, Larsson laid off a pass to Rooney, then sped onto a clinical through ball from the England man before rolling a shot into the corner.

United bagged another with their next attack, a product of an outrageous double act between Ronaldo and Rooney.

The Portugal man started it with a searing run across the visitors' box, then amazingly chipping the ball over Watford's startled defence to Rooney, who promptly launched his shot high over Lee before watching it drop into the goal.

Although it must have been tempting to inflict further damage on a Watford side whose two-game winning run was brought to an abrupt halt.

Instead, Ferguson offered Wes Brown the opportunity to replace Carrick in central midfield.

It was hardly surprising some of the fire went out of United's play after that, although only the base of a post denied a Ronaldo shot which would have completed their biggest win of the campaign.

• Fergie signals determination

Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed his Manchester United thoroughbreds now have 'the bit between their teeth' as they head into the final furlong of the Premiership title race.

A 4-0 romp over rock-bottom Watford at Old Trafford means the Red Devils now require 11 wins from their final 13 games to end a three-year championship drought.

Victory for United was never in serious doubt once Cristiano Ronaldo had rifled them in front from the penalty spot and, with Henrik Larsson and Wayne Rooney adding to Lloyd Doyley's second-half own goal, the hosts not only maintained a six-point lead over main rivals Chelsea but extended their advantage in the goal difference column to 14.

'We have the bit between our teeth now,' said manager Ferguson.

'That is another game gone and we are another goal better off, so it has been a good night for us.

'Maybe we over-elaborated at times but Watford set out their stall to make it hard for us and, in the end, it was a comfortable enough win.'

With far stiffer tests to come, notably at Tottenham on Sunday, Ferguson took the opportunity to hand rare starts to Kieran Richardson, John O'Shea and Tomasz Kuszczak.

And, while there was no great fluency about United's play in the opening period, Jay DeMerit's foul on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer offered Ronaldo a golden chance to break the deadlock with his 14th goal of the campaign.

The Portugal winger gradually improved, as did Rooney, who took his tally to four in three games with a sublime finish to wrap up United's biggest win in three months.

Ferguson added: 'I have been saying for a while now that, if Wayne can get on a run where he starts scoring one a game, it will make an incredible difference to us.'

The United boss confirmed striker Louis Saha should be fit for the weekend trip to White Hart Lane although, with Larsson also finding the target for the second time since his loan move from Helsingborg, the Frenchman's presence is not quite so vital as it was earlier in the campaign.

For Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd, there was no disgrace in defeat having feared his side might be on the wrong end of the result once United had suffered their injury-time defeat at Arsenal 10 days ago.

'I knew someone was going to pay for that Arsenal result,' he said.

'Getting a result against a team like that at Old Trafford was always going to be incredibly difficult for us.

'Manchester United have a squad full of world-class players. They are capable of being the best team in the world.

'I have a feeling they are going to win the championship this season for the simple reason they have not won it for three years.

'I am a bad loser and I want to win. But we operate on a budget which is about 4% of theirs, which just emphasises how unfair the league is.

'I just told the players nobody should go home miserable tonight because they did their best and our season is not going to hinge on games like this.'

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Second Half Summary: