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Fergie: Ronaldo's best game

Sir Alex Ferguson says Cristiano Ronaldo had his best game of the season.

Sir Alex Ferguson described Cristiano Ronaldo's 90 minutes against Aston Villa as the Portuguese youngster's best performance of the season.

The wide man opened the scoring and was a constant threat to the Midlanders' defence, creating the clincher for Paul Scholes in a 3-1 victory.

"It was a good win for us," Ferguson told Sky Sports News. "Villa made us play a bit; they flooded the midfield and played a lot of good football but all the good threats were from us.

"The pitch is causing us a bit of bother just now but hopefully that will improve after the winter.

"There were some good performances. Ronaldo, for my money, had his best game of the season and was a constant threat to Villa.

"We expected a little dip in the winter so we let him go home for a 12-day break at Christmas and expected him to relish that and come back bouncing. He didn't do as well as we'd expected but his game is coming back together again and it's good to see.

"It's terrific [for Louis Saha]. All goalscorers are the same and it's his first [league] goal of the season so we're all delighted for him. He's going to improve and get better and better. He was a real threat to the defenders so we're pleased for him."

Ferguson concedes the 11-point gap on leaders Chelsea may be too much to overhaul.

"I think we have to keep looking at Chelsea," he added. "They are playing fantastic and there's no sign of any blips.

"But if we can maintain our form it helps us in other games.

"I think we are in championship form but Chelsea have an 11-point lead and don't look like slipping up at all.

"We have great pride at this club and have to maintain that.

"It doesn't look like it [Chelsea slipping up] but you never know and we've got to carry on."

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