Carrick's warning for rivals.

MANCHESTER UTD 1

EVERTON 0

MICHAEL Carrick warned Manchester United's title rivals there is more to come from his team after they sneaked past Everton 1-0 at Old Trafford.

The hosts hit the winner a minute before the break when Cristiano Ronaldo powered a penalty past Tim Howard after Mikel Arteta had clipped Carrick in the box.

Carrick was named man of the match and admitted the Red Devils were not at their best despite the win "It was never going to be easy for us. We played well in the first half but they made it difficult for us after," he said.

"We're happy with the 1-0 win and and another clean sheet. In all honesty we could have scored more but there is still more to come from us.

"The win was what we wanted, that's the most important thing. The performance comes after that."

United are now five points clear ahead of their nearest rivals Chelsea and Liverpool, who face each other today.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side have amassed 32 points from a possible 36, which is much better than the chasing pack.

The hosts dominated the match and racked up a 12th successive clean sheet, allowing goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar to break the English league football record for most minutes without conceding a goal.

His tally now stands at 1,122 minutes, having not conceded since Samir Nasri scored in the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on November 8.

In truth he will have busier afternoons with striker-less Everton having to employ midfielder Tim Cahill up front.

The pattern of play was established as early as the fourth minute when Marouane Fellaini's foul on Carrick gave Ronaldo a chance to go for goal from 30 yards but he drilled his effort straight into the wall.

Everton's Belgian midfielder committed his second foul at the other end when he pushed over Nemanja Vidic in trying to reach Leighton Baines' cross into the six-yard area.

In the seventh minute, goalkeeper Tim Howard had to get down quickly to his right to tip the ball wide of the goal after Park Ji-Sung's low in swinging cross was left by the Everton defence.

Howard then denied his former club a certain goal when he diverted Carlos Tevez's shot over the bar.