Manchester United demonstrated their supremacy in the Premiership after cruising past Bolton Wanderers 4-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday. A virtuoso first-half performance from Cristiano Ronaldo helped United finish off their visitors inside the opening 25 minutes after the Portuguese set up three goals for Park Ji-Sung (twice) and Wayne Rooney to put the game to bed early. Rooney completed his brace in the second half before Gary Speed grabbed a late consolation goal for Bolton from the spot. The Red Devils reached the 75th point to widen the gap with Chelsea to nine points, before the English champions take on Sheffield United later on Saturday. United were forced to make an early change after right-back Gary Neville suffered an injury and had to be replaced by Wes Brown after nine minutes. The hosts' sustained pressure lasted for 14 minutes when Ronaldo darted from the left, reached the by-line and fed Park who fired home from 12 yards.
Three minutes later, Ronaldo and Rooney combined to produce a moment of brilliance. Ronaldo collected the ball from his own penalty area and exchanged fine passing with Rooney before releasing the England striker, who slotted home with a delicate chip. Korean midfielder Park scored his second in the 25th minute when he took advantage of Jussi Jaaskelainen's poor block to Ronaldo's initial shot to make it 3-0. In the 74th minute, substitute Alan Smith found Rooney with a clever long ball behind Bolton's vulnerable defense and the 21-year-old made no mistake to record his fifth premiership goal past Jaaskelainen this season. A controversial penalty was given by referee Alan Wiley three minutes from time when Nemanja Vidic made the slightest of contacts with Abdoulaye Faye. Speed stepped-up to convert home his sixth penalty of the season.
