A late Michael Carrick goal gave Manchester United a 2-0 home win over Portsmouth and a three point cushion at the top of the PL. United put a distance between themselves and Liverpool at the Premiership summit with a hard fought victory over relegation threatened Pompey.

Wayne Rooney settled the Reds nerves with an early goal, but the Old Trafford faithful could not relax until eight minutes from time when Carrick sealed the win.

Fittingly, it was Paul Scholes making his 600th appearance for United who provided the pass for Carrick to finish.

Portsmouth offered little in attack with only Peter Crouch posing any sort of threat.

The victory came at a price with defenders Gary Neville and John O'Shea facing several weeks on the sidelines after suffering injuries in the game.

Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed the severity of the injuries.

"There were two bad tackles on them, but no action was taken and they will be out for weeks now, unfortunately," Ferguson told Sky Sports.

"Gary Neville has had to go for an X-ray and John O'Shea will have a scan tomorrow.

"They will both be out for a few weeks now and that's the disappointment about that."

Regarding United's problems at right-back, Ferguson joked: "I don't think anyone else should play there!"

He added: "Fortunately, we've got Wes Brown back and he plays for the reserves tomorrow again. That's his second game.

"We'll give him one half because he could be involved on Saturday."