Manchester United 3-0 Everton match report: The Daily Mirror verdict

One of Sir Alex Ferguson’s favourite mantras is that the title race does not officially start until New Year’s Day, once the jockeying for position is over.

It’s up there with his favourite Fergie-isms, like squeaky-bum time, and is particularly relevant as Chelsea, with a five-point lead, continue to look like champions-elect.

For as Arsenal and Liverpool labour on the hard shoulder of the title race, United remain firmly in Chelsea’s rear-view mirror, lurking in their slipstream and refusing to budge.

Carlo Ancelotti may be new to English football, but his Chelsea players will not need reminding that this is the stage of the season that United traditionally hit top gear.

Last season, after defeat to Arsenal, they went on a 16-match, four-month unbeaten run which proved the platform for a third straight title.

And after this convincing win, Fergie said United have no intention of allowing Chelsea to stroll to the title, even if other sides appear willing to surrender and let them do so.

“You have to look at every game as a must-win now,” said Fergie. “What we want to do is get near the top by New Year’s Day.

“If we can do that we’ll have a real go and have a real chance in the second half of the season.

“The League will probably start now. We’ll get more consistency now, because you’re not worrying about which players are coming back from international duty.

“You’re not worrying about arranging flights so they get back in time and so on. We have them now right through to the next friendlies in March and we’re delighted at that.”

Defeat at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago, along with losses at Liverpool and Burnley, may have left United playing catch-up on Chelsea, but they have not been shaken off.

“Losing at Chelsea was a blow but we took a lot of positives from that game,” said United midfielder Michael Carrick, scorer of the second goal against Everton.

“We showed with this win that it hasn’t knocked us off our stride. We know what we can do and we showed we can still be up there when it counts.

“It was very important we bounced back with a win after Chelsea.

“We haven’t scored an awful lot of goals at home to kill teams off so to see the second and third go in was nice.

“That’s been a bit frustrating. We’ve created enough chances but they’ve not been going in for us. We could have had a few more but the scoreline reflected the game quite fairly.”

United do not play another of the Big Four until their trip to Arsenal on January 31, and the players know the upcoming games are a chance to re-assert themselves in the title race.

“We’re five points behind now and we need to win every game we play,” said United defender Patrice Evra.

“We’ve already qualified for the next stage of the Champions League and the internationals are over, so we have to focus on the title because we want to win four in a row.”

United, driven on by the remorseless Darren Fletcher in the centre of midfield, took the lead in the 34th minute through a majestic strike from the Scotland international.

Antonio Valencia nodded the ball down for Fletcher, who showed remarkable dexterity and technique to catch the ball on the half-volley and send it beyond Tim Howard.

United dominated thereafter, Wayne Rooney clipping the bar with a dipping 20-yard strike, but had to wait until the 67th minute for the goal that gave them some breathing space.

Rooney’s wayward shot flashed across the Everton goal to the feet of Ryan Giggs, who picked out Carrick lurking unmarked just inside the penalty area.

Carrick swept the ball first-time with his left foot through the congested six-yard box and into the far left-hand corner.

The rout was completed with 14 minutes to go when sub Paul Scholes fed the ball to Valencia on the right, and his low shot deflected off Leighton Baines and beyond Howard.

So normal service resumed at United after the hiccup at Chelsea, but it will need a trademark winning run from Fergie’s men from now until the New Year to keep the title race alive.

Man United: Van der Sar 7; Rafael 6 (Scholes 63, 6), Vidic 7, Brown 7, Evra 8; Valencia 8, Fletcher 8, Carrick 7 (Gibson 83), Giggs 7; Rooney 7 (Obertan 74, 5), Owen 5

Everton: Howard 6; Neill 5, Yobo 6, Distin 6, Baines 6; Rodwell 6, Heitinga 6; Gosling 5 (Yakubu 45, 6), Fellaini 5, Cahill 5 (Jo 83); Saha 6 (Hibbert 83)