Manchester United 2 Everton 1:  Cristiano Ronaldo slotted home an 88th-minute penalty to give Manchester United a precious 2-1 league win over Everton at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo had already seen one brilliant effort equalised by Tim Cahill and it seemed United would have to settle for a draw as Everton held their own.

But when Stephen Pienaar brought Ryan Giggs down, Ronaldo nervelessly converted his 16th goal of the season to move the Red Devils back to within a point of leaders Arsenal.

United were without goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves.

The outfield duo are expected to be back in action against Sunderland on St Stephens's Day, and both were missed as United struggled to cope with Everton's forceful approach.

Not that David Moyes' men were on their own in dishing out the rough stuff. Nemanja Vidic caught Ayegbeni Yakubu in the ribs with one early challenge and four names were in referee Howard Webb's notebook before the contest was 15 minutes old.

Wayne Rooney was first on the list, for a wicked tackle on Tim Cahill and given the way the former Everton hero responded to a perceived stamp by Lee Carsley later in the half, it is a good job Webb did not take Ferguson's pre-match call for more red cards too literally.

Other than one effort, saved at close range by United old-boy Tim Howard, Rooney was a muted force and, not for the first time, it took a moment of brilliance from Ronaldo to break the deadlock.

There appeared little on for the Portugal winger when he collected Carlos Tevez's square pass but, having stepped inside Carsley's poor challenge, he let fly with a superb shot which dipped and swerved beyond Howard.

It was tough luck on Everton, who had been at least United's equals. However, it took them only five minutes to level as Pienaar exposed some hesitancy on the part of rookie defender Danny Simpson and picked out Cahill with an excellent far-post cross which invited the headed finish.

Although they succeeded in cramping United's style, the Merseysiders were not the first to find that keeping Ferguson's range of attacking players totally quiet is virtually impossible.

Joleon Lescott nodded Rooney's disguised far-post chip off the line, then Ronaldo skimmed the bar with an acrobatic volley as an unmarked Tevez waited behind.

The half-time introduction of John O'Shea for Simpson had little effect on the contest as Everton's central defensive pair Joseph Yobo and Phil Jagielka continued to patrol their penalty area in excellent fashion, knowing Howard was in determined mood behind them.

Howard's powers of concentration were questioned by Ferguson during his time at Old Trafford but the American's agility has never been in doubt, and after one low stop to deny Tevez, he stood firm to beat away an Anderson piledriver.

It was the sum total of United's threat until Rooney strode onto Ronaldo's short free-kick and blasted a shot which flicked off the crossbar.

The introduction of Louis Saha at least gave the hosts an aerial threat but a draw looked certain until Pienaar stuck out his back leg for Giggs to trip over, giving Ronaldo the opportunity to claim the win.