Manchester, Aug 17: Manchester United beat Bolton Wanderers 4-0 in English Premier League. Manchester United started the defence of their Premiership title on Saturday (August 16) with a 4-0 home win against Bolton Wanderers. There was nothing but smiles at Old Trafford, where United begin their first league campaign without David Beckham in their ranks following the England skipper's move to Real Madrid in the off-season. Ryan Giggs opened the scoring for United ten minutes before half-time with a blistering 20-metre free kick which was straight out of the Beckham training manual. Despite being a goal down, Bolton looked threatening after the break. But in the 60th minute United brought on 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, signed earlier in the week, and United took control.


Ronaldo, wearing Beckham's number seven shirt, was straight into the action, ripping Bolton apart on both wings. In the 71st minute the Portuguese teenager won a penalty when he was pulled down by Kevin Nolan.


Ruud van Nistelrooy, looking to in his ninth successive premier league match stepped up to take the spot kick but Jussi Jaaskelainen made a terrific save.


Giggs made it 2-0 in the 74th minute on the rebound after van Nistelrooy had shot against Jaaskelainen. Three minutes later Paul Scholes broke away to give United a 3-0 lead despite Bolton's protestations that van Nistelrooy had deflected the ball on to Scholes when in an offside position.


Van Nistelrooy finally got on the scoresheet and completed the rout three minutes from the end when Diego Forlan set him up. But the afternoon belonged to Ronaldo, who displayed the dazzling skills that convinced Sir Alex Ferguson to bring him to the self-styled Theatre of Dreams for £12.24m.


Manchester United 4 - Ryan Giggs 35, 74, Paul Scholes 77, Ruud van Nistelrooy 87 Bolton Wanderers 0 Missed penalty: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) 72 HT: 1-0; Att: 67,647


Arsenal 2 Everton 1 Birmingham City 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0 Blackburn Rovers 5 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Fulham 3 Middlesbrough 2 Leicester City 2 Southampton 2 Manchester United 4 Bolton Wanderers 0 Portsmouth 2 Aston Villa 1


Playing on Sunday: Charlton Athletic v Manchester City (1300 GMT) Leeds United v Newcastle United (1300) Liverpool v Chelsea (1505)


Standings P W D L F A Pts 1. Blackburn Rovers 1 1 0 0 5 1 3 2. Manchester United 1 1 0 0 4 0 3 3. Fulham 1 1 0 0 3 2 3 4. Arsenal 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 5. Portsmouth 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 6. Birmingham City 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 7. Leicester City 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 8. Southampton 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 9. Charlton Athletic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10. Chelsea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11. Leeds United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12. Liverpool 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13. Manchester City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14. Newcastle United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15. Middlesbrough 1 0 0 1 2 3 0 16. Aston Villa 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 17. Everton 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 18. Tottenham Hotspur 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 19. Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 0 0 1 1 5 0 20. Bolton Wanderers 1 0 0 1 0 4 0

Bureau Report