{"id":21684,"date":"2011-12-26T18:24:37","date_gmt":"2011-12-26T18:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/man-utd-5-wigan-0\/"},"modified":"2011-12-26T18:24:37","modified_gmt":"2011-12-26T18:24:37","slug":"man-utd-5-wigan-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/26\/man-utd-5-wigan-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd 5 Wigan 0"},"content":{"rendered":"

HAT-TRICK hero Dimitar Berbatov showed he’s still got it as he inspired a five-star demolition of 10-man Wigan.<\/p>\n

The Bulgarian, whose future at Old Trafford is anything but certain, added to Ji-Sung Park’s opener with a clinical finish, before toe-poking home a classy effort after the break.<\/p>\n

Antonio Valencia drilled in late on to pile more misery on his former team before Berbatov completed his fifth Premier League treble from the penalty spot. It was a victory that put Manchester United level on points with their noisy neighbours City, but Roberto Martinez will feel aggrieved as he saw Conor Sammon harshly dismissed by Phil Dowd.<\/p>\n

Ryan Giggs was making his 756th United start, equalling Sir Bobby Charlton’s record, but wasted an early chance to apply some pressure when he curled a free-kick into the Wigan wall.<\/p>\n

The hosts did not have to wait long for their opener though.<\/p>\n

Stand-in skipper Patrice Evra slalomed around Victor Moses and Antolin Alcaraz before cutting a pass back to Park, who calmly side-footed into the corner.<\/p>\n

It was a clinical start to the game from United but Wigan could have been level straight after as a neat passing move ended with Conor Sammon just failing to reach Ronnie Stam’s curling cross.<\/p>\n

Javier Hernandez went down under Alcaraz’s tackle but referee Dowd was unimpressed by the penalty claims, before Ali Al-Habsi slid out to prevent Park reaching Nani’s chip.<\/p>\n

Wigan suffered a hammer blow six minutes before the break when Sammon was sent off after catching Carrick in the face.<\/p>\n

It seemed like a harsh call from Dowd as the Wigan man seemed to be trying to shield the ball, rather than actually thrusting his elbow into Carrick’s face.<\/p>\n

Within two minutes, United had bagged their second when Hernandez got the faintest of flicks to Gibson’s cross, which took it on to Berbatov.<\/p>\n

Although it took the Bulgarian a while to bring the ball under control, he had the strength to hold off Alcaraz, eventually beating Al Habsi with a low shot.<\/p>\n

United had started with only one fit centre-back in Evans and even he was replaced at half-time with an injury, but it didn’t matter as the game was won.<\/p>\n

Valencia was having a quietly effective afternoon and his prodding pass left Berbatov with enough space and time to smash his shot beyond Al Habsi for United’s third.<\/p>\n

Valencia then had his name on the scoresheet as a corner was half-cleared to Michael Carrick who played in the Ecuadorian to smash the ball into the far corner.<\/p>\n

And the rout was complete as Park was tripped in the box by Alcaraz. Up stepped Berbatov, who coolly passed the ball into the corner for his third.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HAT-TRICK hero Dimitar Berbatov showed he’s still got it as he inspired a five-star demolition of 10-man Wigan. The Bulgarian, whose future at Old Trafford is anything but certain, added to Ji-Sung Park’s opener with a clinical finish, before toe-poking home a classy effort after the break. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Utd 5 Wigan 0 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/26\/man-utd-5-wigan-0\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Man Utd 5 Wigan 0 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"HAT-TRICK hero Dimitar Berbatov showed he's still got it as he inspired a five-star demolition of 10-man Wigan. 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