Rafael da Silva's fifth goal for Manchester United has given his side a 1-0 lead heading into the break of their trip to Queens Park Rangers this afternoon.

It took the visiting league leaders a little while to get going, but when they did, a couple of chances arrived.

First Nani headed wide of the target with 10 minutes on the clock, then Javier Hernandez saw his looping effort tipped over the crossbar by a retreating Julio Cesar seven minutes later.

They eventually broke the deadlock with 23 minutes on the clock. Cesar parried clear a low shot from Robin van Persie, but Rafael was on hand to fire the rebound into the top corner of the net from 25 yards out.

Rafael then played a role at the other end of the pitch with 34 minutes played as he cleared a header from Christopher Samba off the line. From the resultant counter-attack, Van Persie was close to putting United 2-0 up, but Cesar managed to save his volleyed effort.

That was to be Van Persie's last major involvement as he was forced to limp off just before the break with a back injury that he suffered during the build-up to Rafael's goal.

As the half drew to a close United captain Nemanja Vidic had a headed chance from close range, but he failed to hit the target.