Manchester United returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory at home to Birmingham as Carlos Tevez scored the only goal.

The Argentinian capped a virtuoso performance with his 10th strike of the season as United made light of a host of injuries and absences.

Despite their slip against West Ham on Saturday, Alex Ferguson's side are still favourites to retain their title.

On this performance, it is not hard to see why given their impressive strength in depth. No Rooney, no Giggs, no Scholes - and Alex Feruson banished to the stands - no problem.

Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo were the main protagonists, ably assisted by Nani, Anderson and Park Ji-Sung, who made his first start of the season.

Ferguson's leading men combined brilliantly for the goal, and only a combination of wasteful finishing and dogged defending kept the scoreline down.

Cameron Jerome and Ronaldo traded early shots, with the Portuguese winger letting fly at every opportunity. Ronaldo had 10 attempts on goal, five in the first half, going close with a dipping volley from the edge of the box that whistled a foot over.

Park came even closer with just six minutes on the clock. The Korean latched onto a deflected Patrice Evra cross but saw his header rebound off the post with Maik Taylor beaten.

It was not all United, however, with Birmingham looking consistently dangerous on the counter-attack. Gary McSheffrey was presented with a good opportunity following a deft flick through by Jerome, but lost his head and sliced wildly over.

The winger again failed to hit the target three minutes before the break with another left-foot effort that arrowed into the crowd.

When the goal came, it was an absolute beauty, proving that Ferguson's side can still produce football of the highest quality with many of their top players missing.

Tevez lobbed the ball to Ronaldo and continued his run, receiving a return pass via a delicious backheel, and the Argentinian slotted low into the left corner.

The sublime quickly became ridiculous amid the goal celebrations, which saw Tevez put a pink dummy into his mouth.

Given the unsavoury controversy that has engulfed United's festive period, Ferguson might have enjoyed a reminder of family values from his striker.

The second half saw United run wild without ever putting the game out of Birmingham's reach. Tevez was in inspired form, carrying the attack to the visitors at every opportunity while Nani dazzled with his close control.

Taylor produced an excellent save to keep out Ronaldo's downward header on 51 minutes following Park's cross from the right.

Six minutes later Tevez slipped in the area but somehow retained possession and regained his feet, turning Ridgewell and firing against the post.

The rebound came to Ronaldo, who delayed his shot so long that when he eventually went for goal there were three men on the line, one of whom blocked his effort.

Substitute Mikael Forssell caused some brief defensive alarms for United, but in general they never looked like succumbing to a similar collapse to that which befell them at Upton Park.

Alex Chick / Eurosport