There may be, as it has been claimed all this last week, a rift in the house of Manchester between manager Sir Alex Ferguson and chairman Martin Edwards.

But there's nothing wrong with the attitude on the shop floor.

The workers, in the shape of Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham & Co gave as good an exhibition of solidarity as you are likely to find outside a Dagenham car plant.

No wonder Ferguson smiled his way all down the tunnel at the end of a match in which United were simply irresistible.

On a freezing afternoon at Upton Park, United warmed the footballing hearts of the occasional neutral in the 24,000 crowd with the sheer precise brilliance of their play.

Two goals each from Giggs and Yorke and two in reply from West Ham's Italian maestro Paolo di Canio were the bare statistics.

But they barely tell the story of an afternoon in which United at times toyed with the Londoners, at times defended frantically as the Hammers launched a stirring fightback and ultimately spread their world champion talents across this passionate enclave of east London. In short, a quite fantastic football match.

The victory takes Manchester back to the top of the Premiership, at least for 24 hours, and there could be no better answer to the critics who have predicted strife in the wake of Roy Keane's #52,000-a-week pay deal.

Spice Girl Victoria Adams believes her husband, David Beckham, should be paid at least as much.

On the evidence of today's match she has a good case. The problem for United is that so did the irrepressible Paul Scholes, the slick Yorke and the wonderfully talented Giggs.

But none is so strong as Beckham's - the England midfielder turning in another captivating display, passing long and short, prompting his strikers, tackling back tirelessly and going some way to silencing his greatest critics from the streets around Leytonstone where he was born.

Beckham was accompanied into the ground from the team coach by a policeman so tall he could easily have a future with the London Giants basketball team.

Predictably, he was jeered whenever his name was mentioned or whenever he went near the ball, but the vitriol was never on the scale of last season's match when the United coach was stoned on its way into the stadium.

Still, Ferguson still thought it wise to replace him with Nicky Butt in the 76th minute after one altercation with the baiting crowd threatened to get out of hand.

Yet this match wasn't about Beckham and his detractors - it was about the sheer excitement and drama of Premiership football.

A match of sharp and frantic action gave up its first thrilling moment as early as the ninth minute when Manchester scored a first goal of superb simplicity but stunning precision.

A sweeping ball from Keane found Beckham wide on the right in the sort of area in which he has become the most deadly operator in Europe.

Beckham clipped the right-footed cross in first time and there was Yorke to head home the easiest of openers.

"There's only one David Beckham," chanted the Old Trafford followers and Beckham raised a fist in salute.

Four minutes later they were bestowing similar acclaim on Ryan Giggs after the Welsh winger displayed deft skill and cunning to first open up the Hammers defence and then take a return ball from Yorke before sliding the ball past Shaka Hislop from close range.

Giggs' second after 20 minutes was struck from considerably further out but was another example of West Ham taking the season of goodwill a shade too literally.

They failed to clear the ball for the umpteenth time in their penalty area and when a Yorke shot cannoned back to Giggs he hit it first time from 25 yards. Before you could say Upton Park it was nestling snugly in the left hand corner of Hislop's net and the Hammers were looking at their biggest hammering of the season.

In truth, West Ham's open, cavalier style proved the perfect opposition for a United side shrewdly rotated by Ferguson.

The United boss surprisingly left out Andy Cole and in-form Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, preferring Teddy Sheringham and Yorke.

And at times they swept aside a West Ham side who battled courageously but never remotely looked in the same class.

The Hammers did get one back in the first-half - di Canio cashing in an a penalty area melee to send a neatly-timed volley past United goalkeeper Raimond Van der Gouw.

Briefly, they looked as if they might mount a serious fightback in the 51st minute when di Canio found himself in oceans of space.

To Manchester's embarrassment the assistant referee's flag stayed down and the dynamic Italian rounded Van der Gouw to slip home his second goal of the game. A stinging drive from Marc Keller, which Van der Gouw fumbled, promised the equaliser.

But then came the frantic 61st minute which ultimately decided a thrilling match.

First di Canio again found himself clean through, but this time, instead of rasping home his hat-trick, hesitated and hit a weak chip into the arms of Van der Gouw.

Then the ball was spread swiftly downfield into the path of Giggs and the Welsh winger confirmed his magic with yet another penetrating cross which was met by the ever-alert Yorke, who stabbed the ball past Hislop to put Manchester once more in control.

Paulo Wanchope should have scored with a free header. Trevor Sinclair also went close, but then Manchester could easily have extended their lead with superb efforts from Giggs and Beckham.

As it was Ferguson replaced Beckham with Nicky Butt in the 76th minute after Beckham had been drawn into a couple of needless altercations with the baiting crowd.

The England man had clearly turned to mouth something to West Ham section after one of his trademark curling shots had been tipped over the bar by Hislop.

Manchester had the ball in the net again in the 85th minute when Butt's shot was deflected past Hislop, but referee Uriah Rennie disallowed the goal for offside.

For United, however, the result was a perfect pick-me-up after their absence from the FA Cup last week.

For West Ham it merely compounded a weekend of misery in which they are threatened with expulsion from the Worthington Cup after fielding an ineligible player in the shape of Manny Omoyinmi in the midweek victory over Aston Villa.

But for the profligacy of di Canio, who might have scored four himself, the Hammers might have earned a barely deserved point.

Then football is full of ifs and buts. Manchester United, more than most, deal in reality.

Teams:

West Ham: Hislop, Lomas, Ferdinand, Ruddock, Minto, Sinclair, Foe, Lampard, Keller, Di Canio, Wanchope.

Subs Not Used: Forrest, Kitson, Margas, Newton, Angus.Booked: Di Canio.

Goals: Di Canio 23, 52.

Man Utd: Van Der Gouw, G. Neville, Silvestre, Stam, Irwin (P. Neville 46), Beckham (Butt 76), Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Sheringham, Yorke.

Subs Not Used: Taibi, Berg, Solskjaer.

Goals: Yorke 9, Giggs 13, 19, Yorke 62.

Att: 26,037

Ref: U Rennie (Sheffield).