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United erased memories of Saturdays performance against Everton as they returned to within one point of Chelsea at the top of the Premier League. Wayne Rooney has had a habit of scoring goals with his head recently (five headed goals in the last seven games) and today was no different as he grabbed another brace in a comfortable 3-0 win against West Ham.

As per usual Sir Alex made some changes to his starting eleven with Ben Foster surprisingly picked in goal. Nemanja Vidic, Darron Gibson, Paul Scholes and Anderson also returned but there was no place for van der Sar and Rio Ferdinand in the squad possibly with Sundays Carling Cup final in mind.

The first chance of the match fell to United in the 6th minute; a ball from Rooney found Valencia inside the penalty area. Although he controlled the ball well he didn’t connect with his left foot shot and the West Ham defence took advantage by clearing.

Alessandro Diamanti sent a warning to United about 15 minutes later with a long range strike. His shot caught Foster off-guard but he managed to back-track and ultimately save it.

United were determined to get the opening goal and Darron Gibson had a couple of chances to put them in front unfortunately both shots solicited easy saves by Green in the West Ham goal.

Five minutes later Uniteds’ pressure told and it was Rooney who inevitably got the goal. Vidic came out of the area and a couple of passes later a lofted cross was directed to the right wing. Valencia expertly volleyed it into the area where goal-poacher Rooney was on hand to head past Green.

Rooney nearly got his 2^nd in the 41^st minute with a sublime piece of skill. When he was passed the ball with his back to goal, he flicked it in the air, swivelled and volleyed it in one beautiful movement. Luckily for Green it marginally went over the bar.

It was the 54th minute before United got the all-important second goal. Again it was Valencia the provider as his cross from the right wing was met by Rooney’s head for his 27^th goal of the season.

He almost had his hat-trick when he dispossessed Green in the penalty area and made space for himself to shoot unfortunately Faubert was on the line to clear it away.

With the League Cup final in mind Rooney and Berbatov were replaced by Owen and Diouf.

Owen only needed a minute to get his goal to make it 3-0. Scholes played Owen into the net and Owen coolly rifled the shot past Green. The win should give United confidence ahead of Sundays final against Aston Villa.

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