RUUD VAN NISTELROOY gave the perfect reply to his critics yesterday, scoring a hat-trick for Manchester United as the Premiership champions demolished Leicester 4-1 to stay within a point of the leaders, Arsenal, writes David Bond.

The Dutch international shrugged off the criticism he has endured following last Sunday’s explosive clash at Old Trafford, to display the more appealing side of his footballing talent. After Roy Keane put United ahead in the 15th minute, Van Nistelrooy finished Leicester off with two more before half-time. He completed his fifth hat-trick for United shortly after the break. The victory means United remain in third place in the Premiership, tied on 16 points with second-placed Chelsea, who beat Aston Villa 1-0.

Afterwards the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, praised his striker as he bounced back from the accusations of cheating and missing a last-minute penalty against the Gunners. But he insisted the furore had not provided any extra motivation for Van Nistelrooy. He said: “I don’t think it has been a difficult week for Ruud. As far as we are concerned, he has done nothing wrong.

“I don’t think the previous week’s episode was any kind of motivation for Ruud. His motivation has always been that he is a world-class footballer who loves scoring.”

Sol Campbell, who hopes to return to training this week after the death of his father, defended his Arsenal teammates for their part in the clashes with van Nistelrooy. He said: “Certain things went on which stoked up the atmosphere and in the heat of the moment we reacted. Things did boil over but do people really think we are a bunch of thugs who just go out to kick, scrap, fight and cheat our way to victory? We are not cheats, we’re not yobs and we’re not out of control.”

Ferguson was delighted with the contributions made yesterday by Keane and his England midfielder, Paul Scholes, playing his first game for United after a month on the sidelines with a hernia injury. Scholes set up Keane’s goal, and provided the pass for Van Nistelrooy’s first. Keane had not scored for United since April 2002.

Although Scholes was replaced by Diego Forlan 11 minutes into the second half, his comeback performance will be a boost for England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, who has been sweating on whether an operation on the hernia might rule Scholes out for the decisive European Championship qualifier against Turkey in Istanbul on October 11.

Frank Sinclair’s consolation goal for Leicester did little to take the gloss off Van Nistelrooy’s afternoon as he took his tally for the season to seven. Chelsea maintained their unbeaten start with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scoring against Villa. Birmingham moved into fourth with a 2-0 win over Portsmouth.

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