Another goal fest at Upton Park saw injury hit Manchester United cruise to three points against West Ham on Saturday.

West Ham should have had the lead early on, but Jack Collison could not connect after a sloppy back pass from Ryan Giggs.

It was the visitors that took the lead in first half injury time with a Paul Scholes thunderbolt from the edge of the area.

Darron Gibson made it two on the hour mark, with a third spectacular goal in a week. Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney made the game safe ten minutes later, as two goals in a minute killed the contest.

Considering there had been more goals at Upton Park than at any other Premier League ground this season, the first half was a relatively quiet affair between two sides desperate for three points for differing reasons.

It was Giggs, outstanding so far this season, who surprisingly created the first chance for the opposition. His poor backpass let in Zavon Hines to cross from the left for Collison at the back post, but Giggs recovered the situation by getting enough on the ball to beat the Hammers midfielder and send the ball out for a corner.

Hines, in for the injured Carlton Cole, spent much of the first half menacing an unfamiliar United defence which included Darren Fletcher because of Nemanja Vidic's illness.

The makeshift line-up that Sir Alex Ferguson fielded was set to go into the break goaless until Paul Scholes, whose future at Old Trafford appears in doubt, picked up the ball on the edge of the box, after patient build-up play. The 35-year old managed to engineer a bit of space before firing a vicious 20 yard effort which beat the best efforts of Robet Green before nestling in the top corner.

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In the second half, West Ham were forced to bring on Alessandro Diamanti for the injured Hines up front, but it was not long before his defence was undone for the second time.

On the hour mark, Giggs combined with Rooney and burst forward with typical counter-attacking flair and set up Gibson on the edge of the box to score his third screamer of the week after his brace in the Carling Cup against Tottenham to put the game beyond doubt.

Diamanti almost pulled one back with a superb curling free-kick but the alert Tomasz Kuszczak palmed the ball over the bar for a West Ham corner.

Despite this effort, the home side were being run ragged by the champions and Rooney and Anderson worked brilliantly together on the left to leave Valencia a simple tap in for United's third.

A minute later Valencia turned provider and crossed in from the right for Rooney to make no mistake from six yards.

Robert Green was taken off with twenty minutes left, after complaints of feeling ill during the half time interval, and Hungarian youngster Peter Kurucz came on for his first-team debut.

Manchester United could not capatilise and safely saw the game out, with the home side failing to create any chances of note before the end.

It was a clinical showing from United and the result means West Ham remain too close to the bottom three for comfort.

The next two games for the Hammers against Birmingham and Bolton are crucial if the club are to haul themselves from the bottom reaches of the Premier League.