Manchester United moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League and smashed Chelsea's record of 11 successive clean sheets after a 5-0 thumping of West Brom. The Premiership's bottom and top sides showed that, despite this being the closest the league's been in years, the gulf between the elite and the not-so-elite is just that, a gulf. Paul Robinson was sent off in a frustrating and ultimately disappointing night for the Baggies, who could have lost by a lot more.
The home side did start well however, new signing Marc-Antoine Fortune causing United's defence some early cause for concern, a defence which was boosted by the shock return of Rio Ferdinand after back trouble. Fellow defender Wes Brown came off the bench to further his recovery from injury problems, and Park Ji-Sung returned in typically spritely fashion, his pace and energy causing Albion trouble all evening.
Indeed, it was Park who was the victim of the Paul Robinson tackle that got him sent off, a slightly harsh decision looking back. Albion's fans were furious with the red card, but the brutal truth was that they were outclassed, and by then United had gone one up anyway.
Dimitar Berbatov played a lovely one-two on the edge of the box with another former Spurs man, Michael Carrick. Robinson probably should have done better with his positioning, his drifting inside allowed Berbatov a free shot, which in his current form he finished with aplomb, and the floodgates started to open. Carlos Tevez added a second before half time after Scott Carson mis-handled a free kick. Carson protested but in truth it was poor goalkeeping by the England man.
By then, the game was over as a contest and United switched their focus to shutting out West Brom in order to gain the record. They did have a nervous moment when Ryan Donk smashed a shot off the post just after the break. If that had gone in, who knows. With the crowd behind them, and a bit of momentum, Albion could have made a fist of it. But in true style of champions, United punished them with a third goal, Nemanja Vidic stealing in to head home from a Ryan Giggs corner.
Giggs had a hand in the fourth too. Rolling back the years, the Welshman went on a mazy run and pulled a perfect ball back for the up until then relatively quiet Cristiano Ronaldo. He shot into the corner after earlier missing two farily simple chances by his standard. The relief was clear to see for the Portugese winger, but many of the congratulations went to Giggs, who seems to have peaked again, with Sir Alex giving him exactly the right amount of playing time to keep him fresh for United's run-in.
A sweeping move saw United finish off their scoring for the evening, and two contentious offside decisions outraged Baggies' defenders, and saw two yellow cards brandished for dissent. Berbatov picked the ball up on the right wing, and after a run inside found Ronaldo with a throughball, who finished through the legs of Carson. Ronaldo was not offside, Berbatov might have been. It was all irrelevant really as five minutes later United broke the record.
11 clean sheets since their 2-1 loss to Arsenal way back on November 8th, and interestingly enough in that time they have conceded 12 goals in 9 Cup and European matches. Their defensive record has been absolutely brilliant, considering in that time they have played 8 different combinations of the back four, and three different goalkeepers.
If United continue this rich vein of form, it's hard to see anyone stopping them romping to a third successive title. Not even Roman's millions can save Chelsea this time.
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