United make convincing title case

QPR 0 Manchester Utd 2:FOR A few, tantalising hours, Manchester United's cover was blown. The champions have spent the past month prospering on the quiet, serene domestic progress, going almost unnoticed amid the fallout of Champions League elimination as the focus invariably drew instead to their resurgent City rivals.

Yet with this latest victory United were fleetingly restored to the summit, peeping out over the rest to offer a reminder their title defence remains persuasive.

This had appeared an awkward fixture in an arena where Chelsea have stumbled, but it ended as something approaching a stroll.

QPR were breached before they even had a foothold in the game and rarely suggested they could recover thereafter, with United’s dominance hardly reflected in the scoreline. Had profligacy not crept into their approach they could have conjured a dismissal as eye-catching as those mustered over the campaign’s early weeks. Regardless, they never hinted at surrendering .

At present, this team feels as if it is still warming up, readying itself for the second half of the season when momentum is more traditionally whipped up. On this evidence they should spring from a position of rude health in the new year. Javier Hernandez returned here, with Dimitar Berbatov also on the bench and the treatment room not quite as cluttered now as it was. That will bolster options, but confidence is already buoyed. Memories of the swashbuckling thrashings handed out so regularly in the autumn may be fading, but the side’s response to disintegrating so farcically in the Manchester derby in late October has been impressive.

This was a sixth win in seven matches, with only two goals – one a contentious penalty at home to Newcastle United – having been shipped en route. QPR’s most enterprising play was reserved for when the unpredictable Adel Taarabt entered the fray with the game already gone but, one horrible miss from DJ Campbell aside, they chiselled out only half-chances even as Patrice Evra laboured to contain Jamie Mackie on the flank. Alex Ferguson will be relieved normal service appears to have been resumed at the back, particularly with Nemanja Vidic now a long-term absentee.

“We should have scored a lot of goals,” said Ferguson. “We were wasteful with a lot of the chances we had. We should have won it by the 30-minute mark, but the goalkeeper kept them in the game.”

There was relief at the sight of Michael Carrick intercepting Joey Barton’s crossfield pass and gliding upfield unchallenged, Alejandro Faurlin trailing behind him, before converting his first Premier League goal in almost two years. The 30-year-old had not registered in any competition for 70 games and made an unlikely scorer, though he might merely have lost patience at seeing team-mates pass up their own chances.

Phil Jones struck a post and was denied superbly by Radek Cerny, but his galloping runs from deep mark him out as an exceptional talent. Wayne Rooney appears to have tapped into the teenager’s wavelength and slid him through almost at will. Neil Warnock suggested with a smile that his opposite number may have been “disappointed” with Rooney’s display, though that felt rather more like mischief making. The England forward was outstanding as scorer and provider.

The striker had opened the scoring here after 53 seconds, and Rangers never recovered once Matthew Connolly had sliced his first meaningful touch high but not clear of trouble. Rooney and Antonio Valencia combined slickly with the former nodding in the Ecuadorian’s cross, Luke Young’s panicked and desperate dive across the scorer rather summing up the hosts’ early confusion. Barton admitted QPR “fell short” on the day, with their sloppiness epitomised by Danny Gabbidon’s appearance for the second half.

QPR lent heavily on Cerny here, who made outstanding saves from Valencia and Danny Welbeck, though Paddy Kenny is now waiting to return. Welbeck was denied a good goal by a linesman’s flag, with Jonny Evans nodding against the bar when the goalkeeper was by-passed.

While the deficit remained at one, QPR clung to hope but David de Gea blocked Heidar Helguson’s attempt and parity remained elusive. United may have returned to second place, but their threat to City above them merely grows.

Guardian Service