Manchester United showed that they are in no mood to give up the chase for their Premier League title by thrashing West Ham 4-0 at Upton Park.
Paul Scholes opened the scoring seconds before half-time with a superb strike from the edge of the box before goals from Darron Gibson, Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney made it comfortable for the visitors after the break.
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Ferguson had sent out a makeshift defence to start with, after seeing Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Jonny Evans all sidelined through injury. Midfielder Darren Fletcher filled in at right-back with Gary Neville and Wes Brown in the middle.
Yet after half an hour Neville pulled up, clutching the right side of his groin.
It brought the biggest cheer of the afternoon from an unsympathetic home crowd, saw an angry remonstration between Neville and his dugout as they pondered a substitution, and led to a reshuffle which saw midfielder Michael Carrick come on to shore up the centre of midfield.
Let's give United credit, Carrick and Fletcher played as if they had defended all their lives in a match which was long on midfield industry and short on goalmouth thrills until the champions took total control in the second half.
Of course, Ferguson, back on the touchline after his two-match ban for criticising referee Alan Wiley, never fields a side not prepared to shed every last drop of sweat in the team cause.
And with Chelsea threatening to open an unbridgeable gap at the top of the Premier League before Christmas, this was a must-win match.
But if Scholes caught the eye with that screamer which goalkeeper Robert Green got his hand to but could only divert into the net, then United owed this victory as much to Ryan Giggs.
