Bolton Wanderers 0 Manchester United 5: Champions’ emphatic triumph is marred by Cleverley’s injury

Sir Alex Ferguson has condemned the tackle that left Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley with ligament damage.

Cleverley left the Reebok Stadium with his foot in a protective cast after being caught in a reckless tackle from behind by Bolton captain Kevin Davies.

The 22-year-old has just broken into the England squad and his injury cast a shadow over the champions’ ruthless victory.

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Ferguson said: “It was a bad tackle,” and he will have been surprised Davies was not cautioned for the incident but shortly afterwards he picked up his 100th Premier League booking for felling Patrice Evra.

United expect Cleverley to be out for four weeks which is an improvement on the immediate pre-match forecast when they feared a fracture would have meant he was unable to play for months. The injury did not prevent United maintaining their stunning early season form, with Wayne Rooney becoming only the fourth player in Premier League history to score hat-tricks in back-to-back games.

It took Rooney’s tally onto eight for the season, more than 18 Premier League clubs have so far managed, the exceptions being United and Manchester City.

It also moved him level with Sir Bobby Charlton on seven hat-tricks for the club.

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Rooney was joined on the scoresheet by strike partner Javier Hernandez.

Handed his first start of the season, the Mexican took just four minutes to open his account, nipping in front of Gary Cahill to touch home Nani’s low cross.

Rooney then took centre stage, netting twice before the break and completing his treble after the interval before Hernandez rounded off another amazing win, coming just a fortnight after United scored eight against Arsenal.

“Hernandez’s movement, speed, imagination and presence within the game was terrific,” said Ferguson.

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“He is a menace to any defender. Over the years the second season for players can be hard. But I never had any doubts.”

Ferguson will check on Evra, who took a blow to the knee, before finalising his squad for Wednesday’s Champions League encounter with Benfica in Lisbon, although he expects to be without Jonny Evans, who was forced off with a hip injury.

“Without the goals, Jussi Jaaskelainen had two saves in the game,” reflected Bolton boss Owen Coyle. “We had double the shots, treble the crosses and David De Gea made some great saves.

“We paid the price for probably every mistake we made in the game but the Premier League is ruthless.”