Man Utd 4 Bolton 0

The Trotters gave as good as they got in the early exchanges as Kevin Nolan forced a superb save out of Tim Howard while at the opposite end Jussi Jaaskelainen was equally acrobatic to deny Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The deadlock was broken on 35 minutes as Ryan Giggs proved there is life in United's set-pieces following the departure of David Beckham as the Welshman curled in a magnificent free-kick.

United introduced teen sensation Cristiano Ronaldo on the hour mark and the Portuguese ace was soon making his mark as he drew a foul from Kevin Nolan in the box only for van Nistelrooy to miss his second penalty in a week as the Dutchman's spot kick was tipped round the post by Jaaskelainen.

Giggs made it two from close range on 74 minutes but United's third was tinged with controversy as van Nistelrooy touched the ball in an offside position before Paul Scholes drilled the ball home.

Bolton responded with Ricardo Gardner heading against the crossbar but on 87 minutes van Nistelrooy created Premiership history.

The prolific marksman scored for the ninth Premiership game in a row as he collected a Diego Forlan pass to rifle home.