Sir Alex Ferguson was presented with the Premier League trophy before kick-off this afternoon and on the evidence of the following 90 minutes, he will be receiving it again in May.

The Premier League had decided to honour Manchester United for winning the title for the last three years by giving them the trophy to keep.

Huddersfield, Liverpool and Arsenal achieved a similar hat-trick of titles and received no such recognition, but then for some people football only began in 1992 with the advent of the Premier League and Sky's coverage.

United have dominated the Premiership since then and on this brilliant display, few would bet against them making it eight titles out of 10.

They were transformed from the side which bowed out of the FA Cup so meekly a week ago at Middlesbrough.

Instead the champions and league leaders picked up where they had left off against Bolton in midweek.

The first 45 minutes were as good as any United have played this season and by half-time, it was game over.

They opened the scoring after just six minutes from a wonderful passing move, which is sure to be a contender for Goal of the Month.

After several crisp passes, David Beckham found Ruud van Nistelrooy, who backheeled the ball to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He in turn slipped Phil Neville through on the right to drive home his second goal of the season from the narrow angle.

Sunderland, without a win at Old Trafford in 34 years, equalised against the run of play on 12 minutes when Kevin Phillips scored with a goal out of nothing.

There seemed no danger when he received the ball from Jason McAteer 25 yards out, but he hit a right-foot shot into the bottom corner, which gave Fabien Barthez no chance, for his 11th of the season.

This proved to be a mere blip and after Jurgen Macho had saved from Beckham and Solskjaer had headed over, United regained the lead on 25 minutes.

The rampaging Ryan Giggs was halted by a crude obstruction from Stanislav Varga and after booking the Sunderland defender, referee Rob Styles advanced the free-kick 10 yards to the edge of the area.

Beckham felt he was too close to goal and moved the ball back a yard. He then fired home into the right-hand side of the net, giving Macho no chance.

It was all too easy and three minutes later it was 3-1 when Beckham played the ball forward to van Nistelrooy and he turned beautifully and rifled home from around 12 yards out.

Still United poured forward and Macho did well to get a hand to Giggs' shot before Beckham hit the post.

United scored a fourth two minutes before half-time when Claudio Reyna blocked Giggs in the box and van Nistelrooy drilled home goal number 26 for the season from the penalty spot.

With a 10th win in 11 league games assured, United took their foot off the pedal slightly after the interval.

Sunderland improved somewhat as a result and Barthez parried a stinging drive from Phillips.

The second half was disappointing when compared to United's dazzling display in the first 45 minutes.

Paul Scholes did enliven proceedings briefly with a terrific shot, which Macho turned behind with an equally-terrific save.

Diego Forlan also replaced Giggs to make his home debut to a huge cheer from the United fans.

The Uruguayan has been a lucky talisman for United and after the disappointments of Liverpool and Middlesbrough, the Reds have won the last two games when he has been substitute, scoring eight goals.

This thumping will do little to help Peter Reid's cause with the growing number of disgruntled Sunderland fans.

Although few, if any, teams could have lived with United in this form, the fact remains that the Black Cats have still not won since Boxing Day.

Reid claims the silent majority are still behind him, but then former American president Richard Nixon said the same about the Vietnam War protests and look how he ended up.

Teams:

Man Utd: Barthez, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Blanc (O'Shea 64), Silvestre, Beckham, Keane (Butt 79), Scholes, Giggs (Forlan 64), Solskjaer, van Nistelrooy.

Subs Not Used: Carroll, Irwin.

Goals: Phil Neville 6, Beckham 25, van Nistelrooy 28, 44 pen.

Sunderland: Macho, Haas (McCartney 61), Craddock, Varga (Arca 45), Bjorklund, Gray, Williams, Reyna, McAteer (Quinn 61), Kilbane, Phillips.

Subs Not Used: Ingham, Bellion.

Booked: Bjorklund, Varga, Reyna.

Goals: Phillips 12.

Att: 67,587

Ref: R Styles (Waterlooville).