By DPA
London : Cristiano Ronaldo scored both goals as Manchester United kept the pressure on leaders Arsenal with a 2-0 win over Fulham at Old Trafford.
United were well below their best Monday, but Ronaldo came to their rescue with a volley after 10 minutes and a header 13 minutes into the second half.
The win lifted Manchester United back up to second, just three points behind Arsenal, though the leaders have played a game more.
Carlos Tevez missed two chances to score early on before Ronaldo lashed in a volley to put them ahead.
Danny Murphy went close for Fulham on a couple of occasions, but Ronaldo headed in a cross from John O’Shea.
The Portugal forward thought he should have had a penalty when he went down under the challenge of Antti Niemi, but referee Rob Styles refused to award the spot-kick that would have given him the chance to complete his hat-trick.
To add insult to injury, Ronaldo was yellow-carded for diving, something that provoked anger from United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“The penalty kick incident is the result of a perceived idea of the referee that Ronaldo dives, there’s no question about that,” Ferguson said.
“In this case, the goalkeeper has conned the referee. There’s no question the goalkeeper got Ronaldo booked.
“Why would he dive? It’s a ridiculous decision. All goalkeepers would try that and it’s up to the referee to interpret it. It was a wrong decision, simple as that.”
Arsenal can extend their lead if they win their game in hand at Newcastle United Wednesday.