[4] The first tour match was played on 16 July over the border at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, where United beat a travelling Celtic side 3–1 with goals from Dimitar Berbatov, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley.

[10] Following the team's return to Europe, Manchester United rounded off their pre-season schedule by taking on a League of Ireland XI in the first match to be played at the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 4 August.

[17] With United's opening match being played on the Monday, their rivals had the chance to get an early head-start in the title race, with Chelsea going to the top with a 6–0 win over West Bromwich Albion on the Saturday.

The score remained at 3–1 until the 90th minute, when two Everton attacks down the left wing produced goals for Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta, salvaging a draw from the jaws of defeat.

United responded quickly and were level on 23 minutes when Nani picked up the ball deep in his own half and ran the length of the pitch to slot home past Jussi Jääskeläinen.

Bolton regained the lead midway through the second half when City old boy Martin Petrov smashed a right footed shot past Edwin van der Sar.

West Brom were level on 55 minutes when a Chris Brunt cross was dropped by Edwin van der Sar, which left Somen Tchoyi with a simple tap in to leave the score 2–2.

The score stayed 1–0 until the 81st minute when Tuncay picked the ball up wide left, cut inside and fired a shot into the corner for Stoke's first ever goal against Manchester United in the Premier League.

United struggled to gain a grip on the game in the first half but were the first to break the deadlock right on the stroke of time, Darren Fletcher bisecting the Wolves defence with a pass to Park Ji-sung, who converted the chance.

The game was deadlocked at 0–0 at half-time, after Edwin van der Sar had saved Carlos Tevez's free-kick and Dimitar Berbatov had tested Joe Hart with an overhead kick.

Macheda then drilled in an 18-yard shot to give United some hope, and team captain Nemanja Vidić equalised, when he met a Nani cross at the far post and nodded the ball home.

United went 1–0 up after just two minutes, when Nani's free kick was met with a very faint headed flick from Wayne Rooney (making his first Old Trafford start since signing his new five-year contract).

Nani then fed Park Ji-sung, who played a one-two with Rooney before running on and poking past Blackburn goalkeeper Paul Robinson for United's second goal of the game.

United started strongly, though rarely tested young Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczęsny until a looping header from Park Ji-sung hit the far post and went in five minutes before half time.

Arsenal came out quicker in the second half and Edwin van der Sar was forced into a save from Samir Nasri before Nemanja Vidić blocked the rebound shot from Marouane Chamakh.

United's next scheduled League game was away to rivals Chelsea on 19 December, but – following heavy snowfall around the UK, including up to 10 inches in London – the match was cancelled 24 hours before kick-off after consultation with the Police and the local authority.

[23] Coupled with the cancellation of Arsenal's game with Stoke and Manchester City's defeat at home to Everton, this meant that United topped the League table on Christmas Day for the first time in four seasons.

United were forced to play the last 16 minutes without young Brazilian defender Rafael, who received a second yellow card for a foul on Benoît Assou-Ekotto, but Spurs were unable to muster much in the way of attacking threat.

After an extended break following an injury to Rafael (leading to ten minutes of additional time) Berbatov scored his second goal of the game, thrashing home with his left foot to complete the comeback.

Rooney scored his second of the match and fourth league goal of the season in first-half stoppage time, with Nani's inswinging cross finding him at the far post to slot in from close range.

Wayne Rooney was later charged by The Football Association for using offensive, insulting and/or abusive language directly into a camera following his third goal – the match being screened live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, as well as elsewhere around the world.

United were superb in the first 45 minutes and made a perfect start when Javier Hernández scored the 20th goal of his debut season after just 36 seconds, slotting home past Petr Čech from Park Ji-sung's through-ball.

Frank Lampard gave Chelsea hope with a poacher's goal against the run of play, but Alex denied United a third when he brilliantly blocked Wayne Rooney's shot from close range.

Tomasz Kuszczak, in goal for United had a number of nervy moments in the first half, which appeared to give Blackburn confidence and they scored after 20 minutes via a low shot from Brett Emerton.

David Vaughan found space on the right side of United's area before setting up Gary Taylor-Fletcher, whose scrappy goal curled off the post to send all but the travelling supporters in Old Trafford silent.

The draw for the fifth round was made on 30 January, and gave United a home tie against non-League side Crawley Town, of the Blue Square Bet Premier Division.

[27] With Sir Alex Ferguson in Spain watching UEFA Champions League opponents Valencia, Mike Phelan was handed managerial duties for a United team making wholesale changes from their win over Liverpool.

With a home league match against Liverpool approaching on the following Sunday, Alex Ferguson took the opportunity to rest several of his first-team players; only Darren Fletcher remained from the team that faced Everton on the previous Saturday.

[31] In addition to a sub-par performance, United's misery was compounded by an horrendous injury to Antonio Valencia; in a fair challenge with Rangers' Kirk Broadfoot, the Ecuadorian winger caught his foot in the turf and suffered a dislocated and broken left ankle, with ligament damage.

With 21 minutes remaining, the game was killed off when Nani gave the ball away to Messi, who teed-up David Villa to curl a fantastic shot into Van der Sar's top corner.