Manchester United crush unlucky Wigan

League leaders Manchester United secured a crucial 4-0 victory against Wigan Athletic in the Premiership on Saturday, with two goals from Javier Hernandez.

The scoreline doesn't indicate the entire story though. Wigan battled hard all through the game but were undone by Javier Hernandez, preferred to Dimitar Berbatov, who scored the first in the 17th minute. Van der Sar was called into action twice in the first half in which Wigan had a go at the leaders. However, their final ball and finishing let them down and in the second half, United's superiority shown through.

Three goals in 13 minutes in the second half saw United give themselves a scoreline which flattered them. Wigan continued their pursuit of an equalizer but they could do nothing when Wayne Rooney sent Hernandez through with a wonderful through ball. The 22-year-old made no mistake with his finish and United were two up.

The third came 10 minutes later when Alcaraz, maybe guilty of ball watching, failed to mark substitute Dimitar Berbatov from a United counter. Gibson sent a long ball forward and Berbatov raced clear of Alcaraz and into the box. Unselfishley, he slipped it sideways to the supporting Rooney who had the easy job of tapping in.

The leaders weren't finished yet. Three minutes later, Darren Fletcher whipped in a cross to the far post to substitute Fabio, who controled the ball before lashing in with his right.

The result was unlucky for Wigan who, arguably, deserved more for their display. However, clinical finishing from Manchester United secured them an important victory before tricky visits to Chelsea and Liverpool.