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Sir Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United have the strength in depth to cope after the Old Trafford injury list hit double figures.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as the Premier League champions swept out-classed Wigan aside 4-0 to go top of the table for the first time this season.

But a sixth consecutive league victory came at a price, as Nemanja Vidic, John O'Shea and Louis Saha joined the growing number of the club's walking wounded - which now numbers 12.

Manager Ferguson admitted the fresh injuries were a blow, but he is happy that the depth and quality of his squad will be good enough to cope with the mounting problems.

The Scot said: "There's a long way to go but what's significant is that I'm very confident with the squad I have here. They've shown themselves today and I'm proud of them.

"Vidic has been taken to hospital with concussion so we'll give him all the tests. John O'Shea suffered a dead leg but he should be okay in a couple of weeks and Louis felt his knee in the warm-up so we couldn't take a risk with him.

"The injuries upset our rhythm so it's great credit to the players who came in like Danny Simpson, Anderson and Gerard Pique were absolutely outstanding.

"That's the benefit of having a good squad and we certainly have that as you saw with the ones who came in today. I'm very pleased."

The three fresh casualties join 60 million pounds worth of talent, including Gary Neville, Edwin van der Sar, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Mikael Silvestre, Park Ji-sung, Wes Brown and Ben Foster, on the sidelines.

Ferguson welcomed the two-week international break which gives United valuable breathing space before they face six games in 21 days after returning to Premier League action at Aston Villa on October 20.

He added: "I'm glad of the break but some of the injuries who are even longer term. Hopefully Darren Fletcher should be back training on Monday which is good news, Hargreaves should be available in two or three weeks time, and Michael Carrick is out for six weeks.

"But we won't be seeing Silvestre, Park and Foster until next year."

Portuguese international Ronaldo doubled his season's tally with an expertly taken brace, as United delivered on Ferguson's promise to end their struggle for goals in style with a second-half deluge.

The rampant hosts also hit the woodwork twice as Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney weighed in with the other goals to see Wigan crumble following the first-half stalemate.

Ferguson backed Ronaldo to match his goal-scoring exploits of last season when he bagged 23, and the manager added: "People are asking me if I really think Ronaldo will get more than 20 goals this season and I tell them he'll do it.

"It's only Rooney's second headed goal for us and he should get more for us with his head because he's a good header of a ball.

"We upped the tempo in the second-half and got that consistency of performance. Some of the interplay between our forwards was excellent, they're coming together and there's an understanding comes with that which we saw today."

Wigan are without a win for seven games, and have failed to secure a single point in 18 games against United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea since promotion two years ago.

Manager Chris Hutchings said: "We lost our shape and they have the kind of quality players who will take you apart."