Cristiano Ronaldo scored two first-half goals as Manchester United beat Bolton 2-0 to move three points clear at the top of the Premier League.The Portuguese winger netted his 32nd and 33rd goals of the season - the second from a trademark free-kick - as the Red Devils secured the victory at Old Trafford that moves them three points clear of Arsenal and five points ahead of Chelsea.
United made a bright start and could have taken the lead after five minutes when Carlos Tevez found himself clean through but he could not convert a bouncing ball in front of goal.
But four minutes later they were ahead when Bolton made hard work of clearing a corner and Ronaldo fired a first-time shot into the ground and it bounced into the roof of Ali Al Habsi's net.
It was all one-way traffic and Nani flashed a shot just over the bar before a rare Bolton attack saw the hard-working Danny Guthrie whip over a cross from the right with only the reactions of the recalled Tomasz Kuszczak keeping out Kevin Davies' volley.
But on 19 minutes Ronaldo bagged his second of the night when he fired another of of his dipping free-kicks into the top corner from 30 yards.
Gerard Pique, Tevez, Nani and even John O'Shea all tried their luck as United finished the half strongly.
And things picked up where they left off after the break as Al Habsi made a fine one-handed save on the line from Nani's free-kick.
The Trotters then had the ball in the net when El-Hadji Diouf curled home a free-kick from 25 yards, but play was pulled back as referee Alan Wiley had not yet blown his whistle. The follow-up was comfortably saved by Kuszczak.
But that sparked a spell of pressure from the visitors with Nicky Hunt seeing a 30-yard dipping volley pushed over the bar and Gavin McCann then having a low effort pushed around the post by the Polish stopper.
United soon found their stride again with Ronaldo seeing an effort repelled by Al Habsi, while the Oman custodian did well to keep out another shot from Nani.
But 2-0 is how it stayed as United claimed a deserved win, while the defeat leaves Gary Megson's troops firmly entrenched in the bottom three.
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