Manchester United are three points closer to their 18th title after comfortably dispatching Portsmouth at Old Trafford, extending their lead over Liverpool with three points, with one game in hand over their Merseyside arch rivals.

A Wayne Rooney strike in the 8th minute and a Michael Carrick wrap-up in the 83rd ensured that there will be no needless drama over the fixture with Pompey, making the task for Rafa Benitez and his men harder ever still.

Rooney, who had recovered from injury – propelled United ahead after collecting a precision pass from Ryan Giggs and then proceeded to slot it in the net. 

United's performance on the day was nothing spectacular – it was simple, good and efficient. Not a great match by any means, but United were well on top and obtained what they came out for as Pompey at no point really threatened to cause any substantial problems to the United back four. 

Towards the end of the second half, substitute Michael Carrick completed the win when he unleashed a powerful shot on target after Paul Scholes delivered a gorgeous pass on his titanic 600th appearance for the club.

Bulgarian out-of-form striker Dimitar Berbatov did not participate. He was on the bench but his services were not summoned.

Regarding the growing scepticism of some United supporters and the subsequent hype in the media, some papers in England have actually taken up arms to defend the Bulgarian striker. Matthew Syed, from the London Times said:

"Players like Berbatov make football matter to so many of us," he said.

"He has scored 13 goals in all competitions; eight goals in 27 matches in the Barclays Premier League; he has had eight assists; has a shooting accuracy of close to 50 per cent; and a chance conversion rate of 20 per cent. Many argue that these numbers provide conclusive proof that the Bulgarian, for a player who cost the small matter of £30.75 million, has had a woeful season..."

"Now, I don’t know about you, but while I find these statistics interesting I also think they fail to convey the essential meaning of Berbatov’s contribution..."

Elsewhere, the daily papers were full of praise for United legend Paul Scholes, who made his 600th appearance for the club and assisted in United's second goal.

The Independent describes Scholes as "a quiet legend", The Telegraph a "reluctant hero", whereas another iconic United legend, Sir Bobby Charlton was quoted as saying on the United website:

"In so many ways Scholes is my favourite [ever United player]. I love his nous and conviction that he’ll find a way to win, to make the killer pass or produce a decisive volley."

On a slightly different note, after the match, Portsmouth manager Paul Hart said for the BBC:

"The players are a bit down, they thought they could get something out of the game.  Having rode our luck a bit in the first half, I thought at times after the break we controlled the game and were a bit unlucky not to get a goal. We felt we could come here and get something, but if the players play like that, they'll be hard to beat."