A record crowd Old Trafford witnessed a clinical United see off Aston Villa for a third time in as many weeks as the irrepressible Reds continued a run of form that has gleaned 44 points from a possible 51 in the last 17 matches.

There was a first goal of the season for Ji-sung Park, a first of his United career for Michael Carrick, and yet another goal for the in-form Cristiano Ronaldo as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side maintained the six-point lead over Chelsea.

Both managers made three changes from last Sunday’s FA Cup third round tie. Sir Alex recalled Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic and Paul Scholes at the expense of Tomasz Kuszczak, Wes Brown and Ryan Giggs. The Reds boss stuck with the strike-partnership of Wayne Rooney and Henrik Larsson which showed more than a glimmer of potential in the 2-1 cup victory at Old Trafford. Having recovered from a groin injury, French forward Louis Saha was named on an attack-minded bench which also included Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Ryan Giggs.

Martin O’Neill dropped Gabor Kiraly, who gifted Solskjaer his late winner, and called upon Thomas Sorensen for the first time since November following an injury lay-off. Olof Mellberg returned from suspension while Milan Baros, Villa’s goalscorer last week, was preferred to Juan Pablo Angel in attack. O’Neill set out to stifle United. The Reds make great use of the space between midfield and attack, so the Villa boss instructed Aaron Hughes to play just in front of the back four as part of a 4-1-3-2 formation to deny time and space for Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Henrik Larsson to create.