'The "been there, seen it, done it" T-shirts hang from their dressing-room pegs. Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and co know their way home from here. Goals from two of Manchester United's most prolific course-and-distance winners maintained their galloping charge in the Premiership title race.
Sir Alex Ferguson insists his team do not get up a head of steam until the second half of the season and United have surged to the halfway point with six wins in their last seven league games. Nobody is playing better than their championship veterans.
Giggs settled them into their stride with a superbly taken early goal, Scholes steadied their nerves with a late second. In between times, Roy Keane calmly prodded and prompted United towards the winning line. One or two faces have changed since the Premiership trophy was last paraded at Old Trafford but, despite the addition of Rio, Ronaldo and Rooney, their best chance of getting their hands on it again still lies with the nous and know-how of the old reliables.
Wayne Rooney deflected attention away from United's latest success in a moody moment just before half-time. Having failed to win a free kick from Tal Ben Haim, Rooney reacted angrily to a suggestion that he dived and thrust the palm of his hand into the face of his accuser. The Israeli defender's exaggerated fall may have coloured the view of a lenient referee but Rooney was fortunate not to see a card of one colour or another.
For all the breathless industry of Alan Smith and Darren Fletcher, only the weaving darts of Giggs and the introduction of Scholes from the bench maintained their supremacy. One or two supporters were edging nervously towards the exits when Giggs wasted a clear opportunity to add a second, but the Welshman's mazy run from the halfway soon atoned. Nicky Hunt managed to toe the ball away from him but Scholes dispatched it past the keeper.
United knew that Chelsea and Arsenal had started the second half of the campaign with victories in lunchtime kick-offs.
Only by fulfilling their manager's prophecy about ripening with the season can they turn February's game at Highbury and their April home match with Chelsea into the kind of summit meetings that could prove decisive. They are the kind of fixtures in which the experience of Giggs, Scholes and Keane really might tell.'