United romped to a 4-1 away win over Leicester with van Nistelrooy turning back on the style to fire the Red Devils up to third place in the Premiership behind Chelsea and within a point of the pace-setting Gunners.

The Dutchman's contribution proved decisive however Ferguson said that it had been business as usual this week for his big striker despite last week's drama where he was jostled by several Arsenal players and labelled a cheat by Arsene Wenger.

"I don't think it has been a difficult week for Ruud. As far as we are concerned, he has done nothing wrong," Ferguson told MUTV.

"I don't think the previous week's episode was any kind of motivation for Ruud. His motivation has always been that he is a world class footballer who loves scoring."

Ferguson was delighted with his team's performance and believes the return of Paul Scholes will take some of the pressure off van Nistelrooy to keep on scoring.

"I think today's (Saturday's) performance was probably one of the best of the season. The movement and passing was outstanding.

"We also defended well. We had watched Leicester on video and knew they would be a threat from set-pieces and crosses if we did not defend right and for 80 minutes we did that," added Ferguson who was also delighted that Roy Keane grabbed the other United goal.

"I am very pleased that Roy Keane got on the scoresheet. I was astonished when someone told me it was 41 games since he last scored.

"I knew there was something wrong with his game!

"It is important that other players score for us and Paul Scholes was back in the side and is always someone likely to get on the scoresheet. That hopefully will not place such a burden on Ruud to always score."