Ronaldo Sparks Win (Aston Villa 0 - Manchester United 3)

For almost an entire hour, we were probably looking at a second consecutive blank for our much vaunted attacking force. We played poorly in the first half and with the way we started our second half, I really felt this was not going to be a good start to the Christmas program.

Thankfully it was super Ronaldo to the rescue in the 59th minute. He scored with a trademarked mazy run. His first shot was blocked but he showed determination and preserverance by going after the rebound and smashing it.....past a hapless Kiraly.

His goal sparked an impotent United to life. We poured forward with great endeavour and was rewarded with a spectacular Scholes volley just 6 minutes later. The technique was perfect as he connected with the ball. It was made more spectacular as it rocked the underside of the bar before rebounding into the net....past a hapless Kiraly.

Ronaldo completed the scoring by slotting home a counter attack. The move was incisive as Rooney, Ronaldo and Neville combined to out pace the Villa defense, resulting in an open goal for Ronaldo to pick his spot.....once again past the hapless Kiraly.

In the end it was a convincing win, although it didn't look that way for an hour. Once we got our engine running at full steam, Villa were never able to compete. The team did not play badly for most parts, but there were worrying signs that they boys were getting tired and perhaps a bit complacent. Had it not been for Ronaldo's hardwork and 'never say die' attitude, we could be losing ground to Chelsea and not maintaining our lead at the top. (At the time of typing this, Chelsea is already 2-0 up at Wigan)

What was interesting to note was that Carrick had an ankle injury. What was perhaps more interesting to note was that I never even noticed him missing until Kentona called to inform me late in the game.

On Boxing day, we face off with Wigan, who by the way is currently giving Chelsea a good fight by pulling one back. Although it's personally been a hard year with precious little to cheer about, let's hope for a favourable scoreline to bring us into the festive period.