Manchester United  3  vs  West Ham  0

What a difference twelve months can make! It was only this time last year that calls for Sir Alex Ferguson to show Nani and Dimitar Berbatov the Old Trafford door were growing louder. Yet apart from each grabbing a spectacular goal on Saturday, they  turned on a performances which had ‘class’ written all over it. Together with veteran Paul Scholes they ran the show in a game that United never looked like losing.

The only concern in an otherwise polished display was the amount of goalscoring opportunities which continue to go begging game after game. Both the Hammers and Newcastle could, and should, have been beaten by twice the margin this season while the failure to take the chances created at Craven Cottage proved costly. It’s a waste that Ferguson will certainly be having a serious look at.

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If previous meetings between Manchester United and West Ham are any indication, there should be plenty of goals put away on Saturday. The two clubs have often turned on the entertainment with scorelines of 5-3 at Upton Park and 6-0 at Old Trafford but the 7-1 on the first April Fools day of the ‘noughties’ stands out as the biggest defeat the Hammers ever suffered at the hands of United. One of the highlights was Paul Scholes’ first hat trick for the club but a young Rio Ferdinand lining up in the West Ham defence must have wondered what hit him. Perhaps the biggest sympathy must go to Hammers goalkeeper Craig Forrest who was on the receiving end of the heaviest Premiership defeat in history when Ipswich went down 9-0 to United five years earlier.

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Three successive man of the match performances by veteran midfielder Paul Scholes have caught the attention of France legend Zinedine Zidane. Scholes has made a sizzling start to the new season turning on man of the match displays for Manchester United in the 3-1 defeat of Chelsea in the Community Shield, Newcastle and then Fulham in the Premier League. England manager Fabio Capello is understood to still want the midfield maestro included in his  squad.

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Fulham    2    vs   Manchester United    2

Warning… Genuine title contenders do not take a 2-1 lead six minutes from the final whistle, be awarded a penalty moments later and still not take all three points as Manchester United failed to do at Craven Cottage. It’s not something that Sir Alex Ferguson’s sides are renowned for doing but with a whole season ahead of them, the bitter lesson will hopefully sink in before the stakes become even higher. That said, Fulham would have had every right to feel hard done by had they not taken something out of this game. Apart from netting his 150th career goal for the club, Paul Scholes was once again widely acknowledged to have been United’s best performer.

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Manchester United droped two points and settle for a point against Fulham after a dramatic game at Craven Cottage. On form Paul Scholes breaks the deadlock with a trademark 25-yard goal, but Fulham rallied and equalised through Simon Davies. Brede Hangeland scored an own goal to make it 2-1 before he equalised at the stoppage time. Read the full story

If asked, you can rest assured that Manchester United Brazilian midfielder Anderson will be the first to admit that he’s a very a lucky man. Instead of preparing for the new season with his team mates at Carrington, he could just as easily be lying in a hospital bed in Portugal…or worse. He was fortunate not to suffer serious injury last month when he had to be dragged unconscious from the blazing wreckage of his high powered sports car in the early hours of the morning after allegedly spending the previous night in a nightclub.
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