Manchester United 4 West Bromwich Albion 0

If there is such a thing in football as a respectable 4-0 defeat, West Bromwich Albion achieved it

The scoreline could even have been worse but for another excellent display from goalkeeper Scott Carson. But even if the deficit had been more damaging, the Baggies still would have emerged from the debris with limbs intact because, for an hour, they proved the equal of the best team in Europe.

And far from going to Old Trafford with stoicism solely in mind, Tony Mowbray’s men went to play.

Manchester United started this game with roughly £200 million worth of striking talent which has either found, or is rapidly finding, its form.

Wayne Rooney picked up from where he left off for England against Belarus and was beastly, Dimitar Berbatov scored his first league goal for United and grew in confidence as the game wore on, while Cristiano Ronaldo chipped in with his almost customary effort. It seems simplistic to say United’s strikers were the difference, but they were.

Sir Alex Ferguson had previously paid tribute to Mowbray’s side by saying he thought they played the best football in the division. With the ball they may be among the teams that do without it, they didn’t look so accomplished.

United, on the other hand, appeared an impenetrable force despite the willing work from Albion’s midfield and a superb performance from record signing Borja Valero. However, even the Spaniard’s best display for his new club was eclipsed once again by Gianni Zuiverloon, the right back, who rose to the task of marking the world’s best player admirably.

As is the norm, Ronaldo’s gamesmanship and posturing were unpalatable and for all his ‘spoilt brat’ theatrics Zuiverloon’s appetite to challenge him was never sated.

The winger’s decision to march from the pitch at the final whistle without shaking anyone’s hand or acknowledging his unwavering fans spoke volumes for his character and inflated sense of self-worth as much as it did about his relatively subdued performance.

The Portuguese, afforded time and space in abundance by his harder-working team-mates, was hardly quiet, but in comparable terms to the way he devours other full-backs in this division, Zuiverloon handled him expertly. It cannot be long before some of the big boys come snooping for the Dutchman.

On the day that the top teams in the country assumed their hereditary positions among the top four spots in the Premier League the last half-hour here displayed the chasm in quality that exists between that select quad and the rest of the division.

The scores from the other Premier League games on Saturday reflect that, too. While the top four mustered 16 goals between them, the remaining ten scored just three times.

Such statistics are damning: far from the gap at the top being narrowed, it is growing at an alarming rate. That exclusive club will surely not be breached by imposters again this season and this game proved why.

While Albion displayed the type of football and ideas – in principle, at least – to compete with the best teams in the country, they do not yet have the personnel to carry out their manager’s masterplan.

The Baggies created more hope than chances for some wonderfully boisterous travelling supporters to cheer.

They fashioned one corner in the whole game, compared to United’s 17, but grasped on to parity for the best part of an hour before Rooney broke the deadlock from a typically bullocking counter-attack. He cut inside Ryan Donk, exposed by Zuiverloon being caught up the pitch, then drilled the ball past Carson at his near post.

Rooney deserved his goal, having been denied one unjustly in the first half and as reward for being the most influential player on the pitch.

He turned creator for the second goal. When Albion over-committed, he threaded the ball neatly through a flat back four and Ronaldo fired through Carson’s legs.

A defensive lapse from Jonas Olsson let Berbatov in to volley the ball home from three yards on 71 minutes before Nani’s fourth, however unnecessary by this stage it proved, showed United at their dazzling best.

Four beautifully-weighted passes from the edge of their box saw Nani tap home past Carson from three yards at the far post.

Rooney, not surprisingly, played the telling, inch-perfect pass.

Scorers: Rooney (56,) Ronaldo (69), Berbatov (71), Nani (90).

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-3-3): Van der Sar; Da Silva (Neville, 65), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra (O’Shea, 36); Ronaldo, Fletcher, Giggs, Park (Nani, 70); Berbatov, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Evans, Gibson.
WEST BROMWICH ALBION (4-5-1): Carson; Zuiverloon, Donk, Olsson, Robinson; Morrison, Koren (Moore 72), Valero, Greening, Brunt; Bednar (Miller 53). Subs: Kiely, Hoefkens, Cech, Barnett, MacDonald.
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).
Booking: Albion – Zuiverloon (persistent fouling).
Attendance: 75,451