PA PhotosNemanja Vidic is back and so are Man United's clean sheets

The new year's resolution at Old Trafford has been made abundantly clear. Concede fewer goals. Whilst the strikers kept their scoring boots on at the DW Stadium for the 4-0 win, it was the clean sheet kept by the defence, the side's second in a matter of days, that warmed the management on January 1.

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It has been a successful festive period for United. Ten points out of the last twelve represents a job well done and is particularly pleasing when you consider that closest rivals, Manchester City, have amassed only nine over the same spell. Every little helps.

The pleasing news on Wednesday evening is that Harry Redknapp's QPR have just beaten Chelsea too. Considering the London outfit were starting to look formidable under Benitez it is notable that they remain 14 points behind. Surely too much to mount a credible challenge.

Whenever he is given a chance in the first team Javier Hernandez scores goals. His two here were typically lethal, the kind of goals strikers are trained to score, and that doesn't include the ones disallowed for offside. He is perhaps the most fluent and naturally talented goalscorer this side has had since Ruud van Nistelrooy. If you need someone to be in the right place, at the right time, he is your man.

Positioning is not necessarily something United's defenders have been brilliant at recently. Evra was in the box and shooting again on a couple of occasions against Wigan. A ricochet from one of his efforts turned into Hernandez's first. Fortunately, his work as a left-back was also sound and he played his part in a reasonably solid defensive performance.

Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans got the nod in the centre and they managed to clear up most of what Wigan produced in the final third. The Latics were reduced to only three shots on target in the whole match and David de Gea had a very easy afternoon's work.

Wigan are not the most fearsome opponents United will face this season but keeping the opposition from scoring is a good habit to form. United fans will be hoping that now they remember how to do it, their team's players will get a taste for it too.

This result was glossed by the goals of United's strikers but was also notable for the central midfield pairing of Tom Cleverley and Michael Carrick. It was when these two were put together late in the game against Newcastle that the comeback started to take shape. Here they were given the chance to start together.

Cleverley offers the dynamism and energy that Carrick's game lacks. Whilst Carrick brings an assured maturity to proceedings that keeps defence flowing to attack. It is a partnership that shields the defence well and could turn into something more regular for United viewers.

There is still some distance to run in this championship, but as January begins United are in rude health. Their lead at the top is starting to look ominous and key partnerships are starting to appear all over the pitch. If the defence keeps up the work it has done over Christmas, then surely United will be uncatchable.

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