United 4 : 0 West Brom

West Brom were easily the weakest opposition United were facing this season. But that didn't really guarantee United a walk in the park. Because West Brom haven't exactly been easy pushovers in the Premier League. They've were promoted as Championship winners, they were a side known to play quality attacking football and what more, they were just one point shy of United's tally befor kick-off! Nonetheless, given United's rise in terms of results and the confidence after a difficult start, a goal-feast was not a unfair expectation from the Red Devils at Old Trafford against a side like West Brom.

United were off their blocks quickly and were looking to score every time they went forward. Rooney had been in great form for club and country recently and he only seemed to be carrying on as the game progressed. He came up with a sublime finish inside the first half but was denied of that goal by the ref who thought he had brought down a defender before scoring - something that looked like a very harsh decision. Nevertheless, United kept pressing for lead with some typical good attacking display. Rooney had couple more chances before half time, but failed to capitalise - first his header was kept out by the Baggies keeper Carsson while in another instance he couldn't only come up with a tame shot while a decent one could have fetched hime a goal. But you could see that the Englishman was dictating play all through the game like a mid-field maestro - even Ronaldo wasn't exerting half the amount of influence.

Second half wasn't too different. United kept pressing for the first goal. The first did come - around the hour mark and through none other than Wayne Rooney himself. He made a brilliant run from the left and cut in and thundered a shot past a wrong-footed Carsson. That was enough to open the flood gates. United went on to score 3 more goals from there with Rooney was the provider for the two of those goals. The second was scored by Ronaldo who made a brilliant run past the West Brom back-four to intercept a smart Rooney through-ball. Berbatov came up with a brilliant reflex goal to score the third, something he made look ominously easy. And Nani scored the fourth on the counter-attack, this time Rooney again being the provider.

So, in the end it was quite a comprehensive victory for the title holders with an ominous score-line. The match was probably all about Rooney with him looking in such brilliant form - both in scoring goals and dictating the play in the opposition box. His performance eclipsed other good performances - Fletcher was brilliant in the mid-field along with Giggs who looked completely at easy playing as a central midfielder. Ronaldo and Berbatov chipped in too while the defense didn't have anything close to even a tough time.
With Chelsea and Liverpool securing good victories, the fight in the top four is becoming really well-contested, especially with Liverpool winning crucial, hard-fought matches. But the good thing for United is we have played two of our toughest away matches already!