Manchester United 3 Aston Villa 1: Wayne Rooney double sinks plucky Villans

At the end of a transfer window that saw three of their rivals spend a total of £135million on strikers, Manchester United were finally reintroduced to one of their own last night as they consolidated their

position at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

While Fernando Torres and Edin Dzeko settle in at Chelsea and Manchester City respectively, and Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez grow accustomed to life at Liverpool, Wayne Rooney returned to his true form at Old Trafford. It could not have been more timely.

Roo's the man: Rooney bagged two from open play to secure all three points for United

Without a home goal from open play since March, Rooney has struggled dreadfully. The fact that his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, last night challenged him in his programme notes to score a rather modest 10 goals this season said everything.

But Rooney was always going to rediscover his form at some stage and his two first-half goals set United up for a victory that stretched their unbeaten league run to 29 games. That equals a club record but it will interest Ferguson rather less than the fact Rooney has finally played himself into form.

There were a handful of admirable contributions from United players last night. The Portugal winger Nani continues to impress and was terrific. He could have scored a hat-trick.

Ryan Giggs, meanwhile, continues to offer a passable impression of himself circa 1999.

Rooney took the game away from Villa in the first half, however, with contrasting goals in the first and last minutes.

It was a superb demonstration of the finisher’s art as he ran on to a long punt from goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar to touch the ball past Villa defender Richard Dunne and smash it over Brad Friedel’s right shoulder.

Master blaster: Rooney's stunning strike opens the scoring inside a minute

Dunne would have been asking himself questions as Rooney celebrated and Van der Sar was embraced by Patrice Evra. Nevertheless, it was an imperious strike from the United forward.

The early goal gave United impetus and Friedel saved superbly from Nani after another Dunne error in the 22nd minute and then, in rather more routine fashion, from Giggs — after the Welshman had sold James Collins a sublime dummy.

Friedel, becoming the oldest player to represent Villa, had a very good night.

He was to make brilliant saves again in the second half, twice from Nani. But the popular American was powerless to prevent United’s second goal as Rooney arrived at the far post to ram in a superb low cross from Nani.

Villan of the piece: Bent popped up with his second in three games for Villa to no avail

‘We had a great start and what a hit it was from Wayne,’ said Ferguson. ‘He was fantastic all night. It (lack of goals) is bound to have got to him but he has the appetite. He never stops trying. It’s inbred.’ Despite the state of play at

half-time, Villa emerged after the break to trouble United a little. Indeed, Gerard Houllier’s team had endeavoured to play on the front foot all night and it made for an open and engaging game.

The team from the Midlands could have won a penalty when Darren Bent tangled with Evra just after the interval. And Villa were soon very much back in the game when the impressive Stewart Downing broke down the right to lay a goal on a plate for Villa’s new centre forward.

Houllier had a very good record against Ferguson when he managed Liverpool in the early part of the last decade. Briefly he must have wondered if his current team were about to present him with another result to remember at Old Trafford.

Marked man: Ferguson's side maintained their unbeaten run

United have a habit of snuffing out hope very quickly these days, though, and in the 64th minute Rooney laid a cross back to defender Nemanja Vidic, of all players, and the United captain spanked a right-foot shot past Friedel in a manner more befitting a forward.

Villa’s Ashley Young was to hit the bar but Villa’s race was run.

Houllier said: ‘We have been beaten by a brilliant team. If they play like that they will be hard to stop. I am proud of the way my team played.’