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Nani and Ronaldo propel United to comfortable win

Manchester United 2-0 West Ham United

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace as Premiership champions Manchester United cruised to a comfortable victory over West Ham United at Old Trafford.

Both Ronaldo and fellow Portuguese Nani started for the Red Devils, and two goals from Ronaldo inside the first half hour proved enough as the hosts controlled the match and dominated the London side, who introduced Luis Boa Morte just before half time.

Nani, playing on the left flank, enjoyed a particularly bright start, first picking out Dimitar Berbatov for the Bulgarian to fire wide, before then receiving the ball from Anderson and smashing his shot off target with the outside of his right foot.

Nani the tormenter

It would be the former Sporting man who provided the assist for the first of Ronaldo’s early double. Again from the left, where he gave Hammers full-back Julien Flaubert a tough first half, Nani cleverly found Ronaldo with a simple side foot pass into the area, and the United number seven used his left foot to screw the ball across Robert Green and into the bottom corner.

Nani could have made it two almost immediately when he turned James Collins and pulled his finish wide, but Ronaldo did double his tally shortly afterwards following a tremendous piece of play from Berbatov. The summer arrival from Tottenham beat Collins on the touchline with an outrageous turn, and then Berbatov slid the ball across the penalty area for Ronaldo to score from close-range.

Boa Morte opportunity

Former Portuguese international Boa Morte replaced the injured Valon Behrami just ahead of half time for West Ham, and the Hammers did improve slightly on a first-half performance in which they rarely ventured into the United half.

Indeed, Boa Morte had probably the visitors’ best chance of the game when he was put through on goal, but possibly unaware of the time and space available to him, the Portuguese waved a foot at the dropping ball and Tomasz Kuszczak was able to make the save.

United were less threatening going forward in the second half, and Alex Ferguson withdrew Nani after a quiet twenty-five minutes from the 21-year-old. Ronaldo created a good chance for Tevez, beating Herita Ilunga by the corner flag before setting up Tevez, who failed to get his effort on target.

Hat-trick chance

Substitute Wayne Rooney tested Green with a ferocious long-range effort, while Ronaldo may have had his hat-trick when shooting straight at Green following a one-two with Patrice Evra, but United were comfortable in seeing out the remainder of the match for a much-needed victory after dropping points at the weekend.

Man Utd:
Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva (Neville 81), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher (Carrick 69), Anderson, Nani (Rooney 70), Tevez, Berbatov
Yellow Cards: Evra

West Ham:
Green, Faubert, Collins, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami (Boa Morte 44), Bowyer (Sears 69), Mullins, Etherington (Collison 46), Di Michele, Bellamy
Yellow Cards: Collison, Collins

Goals:
[1-0] Ronaldo, 14’
[2-0] Ronaldo, 30’