Sir Alex Ferguson's Reds made light work of the test by the Thames with Danny Welbeck sweeping in a left-wing cross by Nani after only five minutes.

Nani scored the second himself, with a rare header for the Portuguese winger, after Ryan Giggs whipped a dangerous ball into the Cottagers' box.

Giggs claimed the third, although his strike took a deflection off Philippe Senderos to loop over David Stockdale and into the net, as Nani racked up another assist during a one-sided first half.

With the '12 Cantonas' song being belted out down by the Thames, Wayne Rooney took aim and unleashed a thunderbolt to make it 4-0. Dimitar Berbatov wrapped things up with a backheel in injury time to record his 50th goal for the club.

"The performance in the first half was as good as we have played all season, in fairness," said Sir Alex afterwards.

"It is a hard place to come - we only got one point out of nine here in the previous three seasons.

"You would think the third goal would kill Fulham off but they came out very aggressive in the second half and came flying in.

"They changed the pattern of the game but, on the counter-attack, we always looked a threat. It was a marvellous hit by Wayne which, more or less, killed the game and took the fire out of Fulham and it was finished off by a terrific goal by Berbatov."

The victory moved United to within two points of Premier League leaders Manchester City, with two matches still to come before 2011 was out - against Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers.