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A pair of penalties from Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov against Stoke City was enough to send Manchester United to joint-top of the Premier League table, this after neighbours and league leaders Manchester City lost at Goodison Park in their fixture on Tuesday night. The game in itself was hardly one littered with chances, and though the performance from the hosts was not exactly vintage they created much more than visitors Stoke, and could have easily had a third penalty later in the game. United went up to 54 points with the win, while the Potters stayed in 8th with 30 points.

Anders Lindegaard's injury and David de Gea's ill health caused Sir Alex Ferguson to hand youngster Ben Amos his league debut in goal, with Rio Ferdinand returning to the side in the center of defence. Goalscorer at Anfield. Park Ji-Sung continued to start in place of the injured duo of Nani and Ashley Young, while Dimitar Berbatov was picked to partner Javier Hernandez upfront.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis had decided that the best way to trouble United was with height, and started Kenwyne Jones and Peter Crouch in combination upfront for the Potters. Jonathan Walters and Jermaine Pennant started on the wings, with Dean Whitehead and Wilson Palacios forming the central midfield partnership. Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross teamed up at the heart of the backline, with Marc Wilson and Andy Wilkinson flanking them.

Manchester United looked the brighter of the two outfits in what was a pedestrian start to the game, and needed 19 minutes to conjure up their first real chance game when Hernandez got to the byline not too far away from goal, but missed his target by a bit after electing to shoot and not pass, troubling the side-netting. Scholes had his first sight at goal a couple of minutes later, driving a half-volleyed attempt from outside the box narrowly wide after being teed up by Berbatov.

It was all Manchester United in terms of possession, as Berbatov again did brilliantly to play Carrick in with a great reverse ball, the midfielder seeing his first time left-footed effort fly narrowly wide of goal.

Pressute in the Stoke box was unending, and it was only a few minutes later that United earned their first of two penalties through Park, who was felled inside the box by Pennant after being played in by Scholes. Javier Hernandez picked up penalty duties with Rooney missing, and confidently sent Sorensen the wrong way to put the hosts ahead.

Scholes picked up his regular yellow card for an astonishingly bad tackle, and soon afterwards the teams headed back for the halftime break, United with a close but well-earned 1-0 lead.

It took the Red Devils only seven minutes to win their second penalty of the night, Walters this time leaving no room for complaint after tugging at Valencia's shirt when the winger made a foray down the right flank. Berbatov was strangely given penalty duties ahead of first-half scorer Hernandez, and the Bulgarian obliged as well, slotting his strike from 12 yards perfectly into the corner past the despairing dive of Sorensen.

United continued to boss possession, but the next real incident came only in the 71st minute when the hosts should have really earned their hattrick of penalties. Evra made one of his typical runs inside the box from the left-flank and was clearly impeded, but with the thought of the two awarded penalties in the referee's mind, this incident was turned a blind eye to by the official.

With a comfortable lead in their hands, United were confident enough to bring on their young stars, as Paul Pogba entered the fray with a little lesser than 20 minutes less, and was quite impressive during his cameo performance. However it was striker Dimitar Berbatov who really missed a great chance to make the headlines his, missing a sitter from inside the box after Valencia danced past challenges on the right wing and crossed for the Bulgarian.

In terms of the final result it hardly mattered, with United keeping 75% of the possession, scoring two goals, and importantly picking up the three points at Old Trafford.

Up next for the champions is a tough trip away to Stamford Bridge this weekend. Their opponents Chelsea though are far from in cracking form, and were lucky to leave Swansea with a point tonight with Jose Bosingwa scoring an equalizer deep in injury time for the Blues.

Teams :

Manchester United (4-4-2) - Amos, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Park, Berbatov, Hernandez (Pogba 72')

Subs: Kuszczak, Giggs, Welbeck, Fabio Da Silva, Rafael Da Silva, Pogba, Will Keane

Stoke City (4-4-2) - Sorensen, Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson, Pennant, Palacios (Delap 75'), Whitehead, Walters (Fulller 75'), Jones, Crouch (Jerome 57')

Subs: Begovic, Whelan, Fuller, Delap, Etherington, Jerome, Woodgate.

Final Scoreline: Manchester United 2 - 0 Stoke City (Hernandez 38' (p), Berbatov 53' (p))

File Photograph Copyright: Ed Schipul