Manchester United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy (left) vies for the ball with Aston Villa’s Liam Ridgewell during their Premiership clash at Old Trafford on Saturday. (AFP)

London: A rejuvenated Ruud van Nistelrooy scored his third goal of the season to give Manchester United a 1-0 over Aston Villa and make it two wins out of two in the fledgling Premier League campaign on Saturday.

Van Nistelrooy, already looking sharper than at anytime during his troubled 2004-05 season, got on the end of a cross from winger Cristiano Ronaldo after 66 minutes to add to his previous efforts against Everton and Debrecen in the Champions League qualifying round.

A dominant United deserved the win as Villa, playing with one striker and defending from the off, never looked likely to end their 22-year run without an Old Trafford victory over the hosts.

“Ruud’s last season was fragmented and it was partly our fault for bringing him back too early,” United manager Alex Ferguson said.

“His fitness in pre-season has been fantastic and we are getting the benefit of that.

“We had some chances but their defence and goalkeeper were fantastic.”

United’s victory, coming after last week’s 2-0 success at Everton, sets down a marker for their likely title rivals Chelsea and Arsenal, who meet at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Everton are also in action on Sunday at Bolton Wanderers. A week ago Villa began their season by scoring two and conceding two in a frenetic opening nine minutes against Bolton Wanderers and they began Saturday's encounter in a much more circumspect manner.

The result was that United were able to take the initiative from the start and set about trying to break down a deep Villa defence, though they were restricted to a series of long-range shots in the first half. Korean midfielder Park Ji-sung went closest as goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen tipped his effort on to the bar, while Paul Scholes and the ever-lively Wayne Rooney were just wide.

Ronaldo tested Sorensen with a header a few moments after coming on as a 59th-minute replacement for Park and the Portuguese winger's ability to stretch the game wide then paid dividends.

His cross in the 66th minute skidded off the head of Villa defender Olof Mellberg and reached Van Nistelrooy at the far post, giving the Dutch striker an easy chance.

Villa were forced to push forward after the goal but did not once trouble Edwin Van der Sar, and the space left behind them gave United more room to work.

Van Nistelrooy thought he had got his second five minutes from time when he seized on a Sorensen block of a Scholes shot, only for Villa’s former United midfielder Eric Djemba Djemba to clear off the line.

Villa boss David ’Leary, still without an Old Trafford win in 14 attempts as a manager, defended his side’s negative approach. “I am an attack-minded coach and like to take people on but circumstances dictated my plans because we had a few players injured,” he said. (Reuters)