Graphic: Bill Edgar's tactical analysis

Sir Alex Ferguson has been at Old Trafford for nearly 21 years so there was never any chance that he would get carried away with a home victory over Wigan Athletic, but the Manchester United manager definitely had a spring in his step on Saturday. Ferguson had used his programme notes to predict that his side would start scoring goals again soon and unfortunately for Wigan his forwards backed up their manager’s words with a display that suggested that normal service is about to be resumed at the home of the champions.

Ferguson’s United teams have never had trouble scoring goals since the dark days of the late 1980s but a string of 1-0 victories and a lack of a cutting edge in front of goal had cast doubts on the manager’s transfer policy during the summer. Why spend more than £50 million on a winger and two midfield players when United needed a striker with the killer instincts of Ruud van Nistelrooy? Did he really need Owen Hargreaves? Was it worth gambling more than £16 million on Anderson’s potential?

The jury is still out on Hargreaves, who missed this game with a knee injury, but as far as Anderson is concerned, Ferguson appears to have struck gold.

The 19-year-old Brazil midfield player lasted only 45 minutes on his debut against Sunderland last month and he was on the pitch when a second-string United team were humbled by Coventry City in the Carling Cup 12 days ago, but now he grabbed the chance to show what he could do after he replaced Nemanja Vidic midway through the first half.

Ferguson is convinced that Anderson is good enough to replace Paul Scholes when the 32-year-old former England midfield player retires and nobody who witnessed his performance in this match would argue with the United manager.

Anderson appeared to have a lot on his plate when he took his place alongside Scholes in the United midfield as his teammates were having trouble finding a way through Wigan’s five-man midfield and Josip Skoko was proving to be an effective shield in front of the visiting team’s defence. Michael Brown introduced himself to the Brazilian with a couple of trade-mark crunching tackles before Anderson stamped his authority on the game after the interval.

Carlos Tévez’s opening goal - a sweet left-foot strike after he had left Kevin Kilbane and Titus Bramble in his wake – was set up by Anderson’s threaded pass and the Brazilian also contributed to his side’s third goal by dispossessing Brown in the centre circle and starting a slick passing move that ended with Cristiano Ronaldo sweeping the ball past Chris Kirkland from close range.

“We had ten players out injured today so the result is a great credit to those who played,” Ferguson said. “There is a long way to go yet but what is significant is the strength of the squad that I have here today.”

Wigan gave as good as they got in the first half, with Mario Melchiot catching the eye at right back, but the result was never in doubt once the former Chelsea defender hobbled off with a thigh injury soon after the interval. Chris Hutchings’s team have failed to take a point off Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or United since they were promoted two years ago, but the manager knows that his side’s survival prospects are unlikely to depend on how they perform against the big four.

“This is a game we need to learn from,” Hutchings said. “We will then sweep it under the carpet and move on to the next one. We will take the positives out of the first half but we won’t take any out of the second half.”

How they rated

Manchester United 4 Tévez 54, Ronaldo 59, 76, Rooney 82

4-4-2 T Kuszczak 7 G Piqué 7 R Ferdinand 7 N Vidic 6 P Evra 7 C Ronaldo 8 J O’Shea 6 P Scholes 8 R Giggs 7 W Rooney Y 7 C Tévez 8 Substitutes Anderson 8 (for Vidic, 21min), D Simpson 7 (for O’Shea, 30), Nani (for Tévez, 81) Not used T Heaton, C Eagles Next: Aston Villa (a)

Wigan 0

4-5-1 C Kirkland 6 M Melchiot 6 E Boyce 4 T Bramble 4 K Kilbane 4 P Scharner 5 M Brown 4 J Skoko Y 5 J Koumas 7 S Olembe 5 M Bent 5 Substitutes F Hall 4 (for Melchiot, 50min), L A Valencia 6 (for Olembe, 66) Not used M Pollitt, D Landzaat, J Aghahowa Next: Portsmouth (h)

Referee M Riley

Attendance 75,300