Man United 3 Burnley 0: Dimitar Berbatov And Wayne Rooney Save United

Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney came to Manchester United's rescue as the champions overcame a stubborn Burnley showing.

The Clarets weathered the first half and had the best chance of the opening period when Steven Fletcher stabbed wide.

But Berbatov produced a calm finish and Rooney scored his 16th of the season to maintain United's title hopes and Mame Diouf scored his first United goal to earn a comfortable scoreline.


REACTION:
Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he was concerned that United would cause themselves a shock after missing so many chances.

United took their time to make the breakthrough against the Clarets and their manager felt they were wasteful in front of goal.

He said: "It was a funny game actually. We were very frivolous with our chances and they missed three opportunities and it could have been embarrassing because of the number of opportunities in the last third of the field to punish them was quite incredible.

"I don't know how many times we were in there but we were maybe just a little bit nervous and anxious about our game and I think even the way the second half was going I always felt we were going to score and it was a question of when."

Ferguson will decide on Monday whether Berbatov, who has been playing through a knee problem, will need surgery on Monday.

He added: "We'll look at it on Monday again and we'll see. He could have come off at half time but he wanted to stay on again and that's good.

"Let's hope the goal does him some good. I thought he was the one that looked like scoring and it was one of those days when he kept knocking it past the post or over the bar and he had so many attempts, he must have had about 10 attempts and he'll be relieved to get his goal."

New Burnley manager Brian Laws said the three-goal deficit did not do his team justice and he was more than happy with his charges' display in his first game as manager.

He said: "There are a lot of pluses but a scoreline of three doesn't really reflect the game.

"My ambition is to stay in the Premier League. We knew coming here wouldn't do that, this is not the game that makes the difference; the games that matter are playing the teams around us.

"If we don't take points off them, those teams will overtake you. We have identified the games to take points from and win.

"Man United was a bonus if we had got anything out of it. The bonus is in my first game in charge. There were more pluses than minuses."

Laws confirmed he is in talks with Portsmouth about keeping on-loan striker David Nugent and was waiting to hear the severity of Steven Fletcher's ankle problem.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Fletcher should have given Burnley an early lead as United struggled to make their dominance of possession pay off. They made the most of Stephen Jordan's reluctance to get tight to Antonio Valencia on the right flank and the Ecuador winger was his team's best outlet throughout the opening period, laying on chance after chance to be wasted by Rooney, Berbatov and Nani. The breakthrough finally came when Rooney slid Berbatov through and the Bulgaria international produced a calm finish. Berbatov's low shot was then blocked only as far as Rooney, who held off Mike Duff to slide in before Diouf added some gloss with a late third.

WHAT IT MEANS:
That United stay on Chelsea's coat-tails but their days could hardly have been different. As Carlo Ancelotti's side piled seven goals on Sunderland, United looked anything but fluent against the Clarets. The returns of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand will give them a platform to improve on but Ferguson still looks like he has not found the right blend in his midfield and his team need to improve on this significantly if they are to push Chelsea. Playing like this, Burnley have every chance of staying up. There was the willingness to attack that defined Owen Coyle's spell in charge but Laws has already pointed out they are a little "Gung-ho" and once they get that balance, they can start picking up some much-needed results on their travels.

QUOTABLE:
"It has been hectic. I have been overloading myself with information. I have had DVDs coming out of my ear-holes."
- Laws on taking over at Turf Moor.

MANCHESTER UNITED 3 (Berbatov 64, Rooney 69, Diouf 90) BURNLEY 0

PLAYER MARKING:
Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar 6 ; Neville 5, Brown 7, Evans 7, Evra 8; Valencia 8, Carrick 6 (Anderson 65, 6), Scholes 5, Nani 6; Berbatov 7 (Owen 73, 6), Rooney 7 (Diouf 73, 7).
Subs (not used): Kuszczak, Fabio, Rafael, Park.

Burnley: (4-5-1): Jensen 7; Mears 6, Edgar 8, Duff 8, Jordan 4; Nugent 6, Elliott 7, McDonald 6 (Gudjonsson 73, 6) , Alexander 7, Eagles 7 (Blake 83, 6); Fletcher 8 (Thompson 36, 7).
Subs (not used: Penny, Kalvanes, Eckersley, Guerrero

ATTENDANCE: 75, 120

NEXT UP:
- Manchester United v Manchester city (Away), Carling Cup 19/01, 1945 GMT
- Burnley v Reading (Away), FA Cup, 23/01, 1245 GMT

MAN OF THE MATCH:
Antonio Valencia (Manchester United): The Ecuador winger tore Stephen Jordan to shreds all afternoon and United should have profitted from his hard work on the right flank.