Tevez netted with a far-post header and a fearsome drive before half-time and further goals from Wayne Rooney and Ji-sung Park sealed the rout.

"It was a superb performance, he has so much great energy," Ferguson said. "He was a jack in the box all day."

Ferguson could even afford to rest Cristiano Ronaldo and keep Dimitar Berbatov on the bench as the strength in depth in the United squad was again evident.

He added: "My biggest concern is picking the right team, it's not easy for me leaving out great players in every game.

"I hope at the end of the season it will be recognised that everyone has made a contribution."

There was some bad news for United, though, as defender Rio Ferdinand picked up an ankle injury and had to be replaced at half-time.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson admitted the two first-half strikes killed off his side.

He said: "I thought we were good in the first half, obviously we were disappointed with the first goal, we know how good they are at set plays so that is a major disappointment.

"The second goal was a wonder strike, then you have a mountainous task. Your only chance against them is to go a goal up."

Coventry manager Chris Coleman criticised the performance of referee Steve Bennett and described him as being "smug" after Chelsea gained a 2-0 win in their FA Cup tie at the Ricoh Stadium.

Goals from Didier Drogba and Alex ensured Guus Hiddink continued his fine start as Chelsea boss.

Coleman said: "He was smug towards us, the way he was talking to my players, my senior players.

"He was very friendly towards some of the Chelsea players. I know they are great players but you are there to do a job and my players are not happy with his attitude."

Hiddink insisted Chelsea's build-up to the game was not overshadowed by the midweek incident involving Ashley Cole who was given a fixed penalty fine by police after being arrested for being drunk and disorderly last week.

He said: "We had one little thing to cope with before the match but it did not dominate what is happening at Chelsea.

"Yesterday we had this one issue but it was important that it did not cause friction in the team."

Saturday's only game in the Premier League saw Tottenham snatch a 1-1 draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and boss Harry Redknapp is confident his side will avoid the drop.

Spurs looked to be heading for defeat when skipper Robbie Keane came up with an 89th-minute equaliser to cancel out Kieran Richardson's third-minute strike.

Redknapp said: "I am confident we will be okay. We have got enough quality in the team."

Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia blamed indiscipline for the loss of two important points.

Sbragia said: "Eighty-nine minutes, we were 1-0 up and it was the same old story.

"We got carried away and we start losing our discipline. We should take a short corner kick and try to see out a little bit of time or try to work it a little bit better."