David Beckham capped his return to Barclaycard Premiership combat with a majestic chip to finish off Birmingham at Old Trafford.

Manchester United's magnificent seven - starting for the first time in eight weeks after a rib injury - gave the home fans some belated Christmas cheer when raced onto Juan Sebastian Veron's through ball, and then beat the advancing Nico Vaesen with a perfect finish from 25 yards.

The goal revived United's flagging title hopes and applied some pressure to Arsenal ahead of their showdown with Liverpool at Anfield.

But despite dominating much of the contest, United were forced to rely on Fabien Barthez for two sensational saves as Birmingham threatened an unlikely second-half comeback.

At that stage, Sir Alex Ferguson's side were trying to build on the lead given to them by Diego Forlan eight minutes before the break.

Handed another chance to impress in the absence of top scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy with a toe injury, the Uruguayan produced a thunderous volley to send Beckham's nod-back crashing into the net.

It should have been more, but the heroics of Vaesen and some scrambling by the Birmingham defence kept the visitors in the hunt before Barthez and Beckham combined to send Old Trafford legend Steve Bruce home empty-handed.

The return of Bruce was a timely reminder of the glorious past United are seeking to rediscover after last year's barren campaign.

Yet the home fans, who warmly applauded one of their favourite sons, knew that if Bruce took anything back with him to the Midlands, their own title hopes would hinge on an unlikely Arsenal collapse.

Ferguson knew it too, which was presumably why he restored Beckham and Rio Ferdinand to his starting line-up, axing Laurent Blanc, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs in the process.

Van Nistelrooy should be fit to face Sunderland on Wednesday, but his absence did not seem to affect the Red Devils, whose free-flowing start threatened to swamp Birmingham before they had adjusted themselves to a ground they had not visited for almost 17 years.

Roy Keane was denied a shooting chance when Paul Scholes' excellent chip over the visitors' defence struck him on the back as he beat the offside trap.

Ferdinand nodded a Beckham free-kick wide and slick work involving Forlan and Veron also failed to bring a reward.

The return of Mikael Silvestre gave United's left-side a strange look. On one hand, the French international provided the kind of attacking impetus which has unhinged plenty of teams already this season, on the other Scholes deployment on the far side halted a few home attacks as the England man constantly checked back to his better side.

Slowly though, the combination started the look threatening, especially when Silvestre charged forward on the overlap and midway through the half he instigated a concerted attacking raid which should have brought some reward.

It was Silvestre's cross which a flying Forlan failed to connect with when the goal was at his mercy, then the Uruguayan tangled with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the penalty area, preventing either man reaching Veron's inspired ball delivered from behind his standing foot.

Silvestre then had a close-range effort brilliantly turned round by Nico Vaesen after Veron had curled over a dangerous inswinger.

Michael Johnson brilliantly prevented Scholes from tapping home after rounding Vaesen, then Keane and Veron peppered the Birmingham goal with long-range efforts before Vaesen scrambled across his goal to punch Beckham's knock-back away from Solskjaer's threatening presence.

After their recent setbacks, seeing such pressure go unrewarded might have weakened United's resolve.

Instead they merely turned the screw still further, Forlan finally breaking the deadlock with his eighth goal of the season.

Birmingham were on the ropes, but somehow managed to avoid a knock-out punch, Veron and Keane again wasting chances, but not as bad as the one John O'Shea spurned when he side-footed over from eight yards after Scholes' shot from another Silvestre cross had been blocked.

Not surprisingly, it took United some time to achieve the same momentum after the interval and by then it was Birmingham who were cursing at the brilliance of Barthez.

A virtual spectator for much of the contest, Barthez managed to stay alert and plunged to his left to prevent Jovan Kirovski crowning a return to his former club by somehow keeping out his bullet header from Paul Devlin's free-kick.

Morrison threatened to tuck in the rebound, but between them Ferdinand and Barthez managed to block the path to goal and scrambled away the danger.

If that was not enough, United's keeper, so fallible 12 months ago, provided even greater evidence of his supreme agility when he kept out Aliou Cisse's header with an acrobatic stop after the African superstar had sent Kirovski's cross arrowing towards the corner.

The agony etched across the Birmingham faces became sighs of resignation as class at one end was replicated at the other with the England captain's majestic finish.

Ferdinand should have added a third, but somehow managed to balloon a two-yard shot high over the bar as he strode onto Beckham's cross - but the extra insurance was not required as United strolled to the final whistle.

Teams

Man Utd Barthez, Brown, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O'Shea, Beckham, Keane (Giggs 85), Veron, Scholes (Richardson 75), Forlan, Solskjaer (Phil Neville 76).

Subs Not Used: Ricardo, Gary Neville.

Booked: Brown.

Goals: Forlan 37, Beckham 73.

Birmingham Vaesen, Kenna, Cunningham (Powell 63), Michael Johnson, Sadler (Woodhouse 68), Devlin, Savage, Cisse, Lazaridis (Horsfield 50), Morrison, Kirovski.

Subs Not Used: Bennett, Hughes.

Booked: Kenna, Cisse.

Att: 67,640

Ref: M Dean (Wirral).