Premiership leaders Manchester United lead 2-0 at half time against Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Saturday evening.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been the star of the opening period as he scored the opener with a skilful finish in the 16th minute after the Villans failed to clear the corner kick by Ryan Giggs.

The Portugal international winger then turned the provider as he supplied a fine cross from the right side of the penalty area for Carlos Tevez, who had initiated the sweeping attacking move from deep into their own half, to find the target with a diving header in the 33rd minute.

Villa suffered a blow as striker John Carew limped off with a suspected knee problem in the 42nd minute with Shaun Maloney replacing the Norwegian, who had come close to getting a goal earlier in the first half as his shot from the left wing had narrowly missed the mark.

Teams

Man United: Tomasz Kuszczak, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez.

Substitutes: Ben Foster, John O'Shea, Owen Hargreaves, Ji-Sung Park, Anderson.

Aston Villa: Scott Carson, Olof Mellberg, Martin Laursen, Wilfred Bouma, Stiliyan Petrov, Gareth Barry, Nigel Reo-Coker, Marlon Harewood, John Carew (Shaun Maloney 42), Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Substitutes not used: Stuart Taylor, Zat Knight, Moustapha Salifou, Isaiah Osbourne.