MU 3:0 Villa - Cris at his double best

A second-half Cristiano Ronaldo double and a Paul Scholes stunner helped Manchester United to a 3-0 away win over Aston Villa.

For Sir Alex Ferguson's side, the win ensured they will spend Christmas on top of the Premiership and extended their advantage over Chelsea to five points - at least until their rivals took on Wigan in the late kick-off.

The home side almost took the lead when confusion in the box allowed Gavin McCann to smash a powerful header off the post, and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar had to be on top form to stop Steve Davis following-up.

After surviving that scare, Man Utd stepped up a gear and bossed the game for most of the rest of the half. Darren Fletcher wasted their best opportunity when he fluffed a close-range effort after latching on to Cristiano Ronaldo's low left-wing cross.

Ronaldo missed from a header, and returning duo Park Ji-Sung and Patrice Evra were both denied by stand-in Villa goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly. Man Utd stepped up a gear in the second half and started to subject the Villa defence to intense pressure.

When the deadlock finally was broken after 59 minutes, it was thanks to a superb display of skill by Ronaldo, who ran half the length of the pitch, saw his shot deflected by Gareth Barry and then blasted the re-bound past Kiraly.

It was the Portuguese winger's ninth goal of the season and the 2000th goal scored by the club since Sir Alex Ferguson took over. "He is fantastic, he's had a marvellous season for us," Ferguson said of Ronaldo.

And they doubled their lead just four minutes later as Paul Scholes hit what is arguably the goal of the season to far with a sensational dipping volley from 25 yards out. It was plain sailing from then on as a second from Ronaldo made it three with a close-range finish with five minutes to go from Gary Neville's low cross.

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