No end to the chatter

Sir Alex Ferguson taunts Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho as Manchester United pulled four points clear after the Boxing Day fixtures

Ian Whittell

MANCHESTER: Sir Alex Ferguson savoured scoring a psychological victory over his title rival Jose Mourinho as Manchester United moved four points clear of Chelsea at the top of the Premiership.

Chelsea opened an eventful Boxing Day programme by dropping two home points in a 2-2 draw with Reading before United's clinical 3-1 demolition of Wigan at Old Trafford, featuring two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and a third from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, pushed Ferguson's side clear at the top of the table.

"Jose said the other day that we will drop points before the end of the season," said Ferguson. "But he is forgetting that they will drop points as well between now and the end of the season. That is the nature of football and you just hope you are consistent enough that you don't drop too many and can win the league.

"There will be some difficult days ahead and you have to handle those days and recover, as we did when we lost to West Ham last week," Ferguson said. "We showed we have the character and desire to do that. But there are still a lot of roads to travel yet and there will be points dropped.

"I didn't expect that today but that's the nature of football. Look at West Ham. No-one expected us to lose that game but we did. It just tells you football can knock you on your head, it turns the tables on you all the time but what is going to win the league is consistency and we have shown that so far this season," the Man U manager said.

Ronaldo scored a header and converted his own missed penalty kick within five minutes of coming on as a half-time substitute after Wigan had frustrated the home side in a goalless first half. Added to the two goals the Portuguese scored in Saturday's 3-0 win at Aston Villa, they took Ronaldo's tally for the season into double figures.

"I thought he could always change the game with the form he is in," said Ferguson of his half-time introduction of Ronaldo. "But to score from a corner kick with a header was a marvellous start and I was really pleased with the way we started the second half and put them on the back foot.

"Cristiano has been in great form and I thought at half-time we needed a quick response after the first half. Cristiano lights up the crowd and managed to get two goals into the bargain."

Solskjaer's seventh goal of the season made it three before Leighton Baines scored a last minute penalty for Wigan. Ferguson was delighted to see the injury-plagued striker on the scoresheet again. "I said before he was injured he is definitely capable of scoring 15 goals a season if he stays fit," said the manager. "And he showed that today."

Wigan manager Paul Jewell and his injury-depleted squad drew little consolation from a defeat that leaves them plummeting worryingly down the Premiership table.