Ronaldo spot kick seals win over Everton

Man Utd 1-0 Everton

A Cristiano Ronaldo penalty was enough to secure a victory over sixth place Everton and move the champions five points clear at the top.

The win also re-wrote the record books as they recorded their 12th successive clean sheet in the league, as Van der Sar went 1,122 minutes without conceding a goal, eclipsing Reading keeper Steve Death’s record in 1979.

Ronaldo coolly slotted a penalty at the stroke of half time after Michael Carrick was fouled by Mikel Arteta.

Man Utd were a better side in the first half as they had plenty of chances. Tim Howard denied both Park Ji-Sung and Carlos Tevez before Ronaldo struck the post after his low drive from 20 yards beat Tim Howard.

It took 45 minutes for United to finally break Everton’s resilience after Mikel Arteta fouled Michael Carrick.

After the break, United claimed for another penalty was waved away as Michael Carrick was again fouled this time by Joleon Lescott.

Everton failed to create chances, as Carlos Tevez had chances to increase the lead. His first chance went narrowly wide before he low drive tested Howard. Arteta’s free kick from 30 yards out was held on to by Van der Sar, the Dutchman was largely untested.

As Everton tried to push on, time was running out. The away side were lacking any real cutting edge at Old Trafford today.

It wasn’t the best performance by United, but they will be still be pleased by the win with Aston Villa and Arsenal both dropping points today while Liverpool play Chelsea tomorrow.