A Cristiano Ronaldo brace was enough for Manchester United to earn a hard fought 2-0 victory over struggling West Ham in the Premiership on Wednesday evening.

United started brightly as expected with Berbatov coming within a whisker of putting his side ahead inside the opening two minutes.

Nani nearly got on the scoresheet a little later on, but Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 14th minute as Nani turned provider.

Ronaldo sweeped the ball home with a nice left-footed shot to put United in the driving seat.

Ronaldo doubled United's lead in the 29th, when he took Dimitar Berbatov's pass and had a simple finish into the back of the night.

The Hammers' problems got worse before the interval when Valon Behrami was stretchered off with what looked like being a serious knee injury.

After half time, Man Utd eased off the pressure, and even Wayne Rooney's late arrival could not inspire a third goal, but three points for the Red Devils nevertheless.