BY OLIVER HOLT ( The Times )

THE power was cut ten minutes before the game was due to kick off at Old Trafford yesterday afternoon. When it was restored 45 minutes later, the floodlights shone as brightly as ever but Manchester United performed only in flickers. It says much for the poverty of the play of West Ham United that they still looked like rabbits paralysed by the glare.

The level of United's dominance was almost embarrassing, particularly as they were far from their fluent best. West Ham, who could have gone sixth in the FA Carling Premiership if they had won, offered so little going forward that the eminence of their position almost beggars belief. United just picked them off with four of their hatful of chances.

Alex Ferguson, the United manager, had to give his dressing-room team-talk in darkness and he said later: "I think the players enjoyed it because it meant they could go to sleep."

The 4-1 victory, courtesy of two routine strikes from Andy Cole, a neat finish from Dwight Yorke and a late header from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, took United above Arsenal into third place in the table, two points behind Chelsea and Aston Villa. It will take a better team than West Ham, though, to test their mettle as the championship race heats up.

It was easy to forget yesterday that Ferguson had sent Peter Schmeichel and Paul Scholes, two of his leading players, on holiday, not caring that they would be absent against Harry Redknapp's team. Schmeichel went to Barbados, Scholes to the Lake District and David Beckham was kept on the bench. Not that it really mattered: their team-mates still managed to look as though they were enjoying a winter break of their own.

If there was a bright spot for West Ham, it came in the Premiership debut of Joe Cole, their 17-year-old midfield player, who has long been tipped to be one of the great players of the future. Cole played for the entire second half and had a hand in Frank Lampard's consolation goal two minutes from the end. By then, however, his team had been humiliated by United's slicker passing and clever finishing.

A power failure had deprived the entire ground of electricity, but it took only 11 minutes of the match for United to take the lead. Hislop had already saved smartly from Andy Cole and watched helplessly as Giggs curled a shot just wide when Cole fed a sharp pass out to Yorke midway inside the box. Yorke sent his shot fizzing across Hislop and into the corner of the goal.

From then, the result was never in doubt. With Ian Wright and Paul Kitson absent through injury, West Ham had John Hartson and Trevor Sinclair in attack and they were overwhelmed by the presence of Jaap Stam, who seems to improve with every game, and Henning Berg. From that point, it was merely a case of the size of United's margin of victory.

Cole should have increased United's lead in the fourteenth minute, when Blomqvist's cross reached him inside the six-yard box, but he took an age to control the ball and, by the time that he mustered a shot, Hislop had managed to get close enough to smother it.

In fact, it was a surprise that it took United until five minutes before half-time to double their lead. Blomqvist was again the instigator, passing square to Butt. His shot bounced over Hislop's dive and, when it cannoned off the post, it fell kindly to Cole, who lashed it into an empty net.

Berkovic missed West Ham's first chance, five minutes after the interval, when he headed a cross from Lazaridis wide, and the visitors should have gone further behind a few minutes later when Cole hooked the ball over from close range after Irwin's shot had been parried by Hislop.

Irwin himself went close midway through the half, heading another rebound from Hislop's gloves just wide.

The third goal, though, was worth the wait. Irwin won a challenge with Pearce midway inside the West Ham half and fed Yorke. He twisted and turned past two challenges before playing a beautifully weighted reverse pass into the path of Cole, who, once more, had time aplenty to steady himself before rolling his shot past Hislop and into the corner.

United's supporters began to amuse themselves by comparing West Ham to Manchester City in song and airing their grievances about Glenn Hoddle's treatment of United players at England get-togethers. Their attention was prised away for one last time ten minutes from the end. Giggs's attempt to lob Hislop was saved, but Solskjaer headed the ball back towards goal. Rio Ferdinand made a desperate attempt to hook the ball clear but could only hack the ball on to the underside of the bar and into the net.

Lampard's late goal rescued a little dignity, but it was academic. If the flickering turns into full power, United will be hard to stop.

Manchester United (4-4-2): R van der Gouw - W Brown (sub: R Johnsen, 77min), H Berg, J Stam, D Irwin - R Giggs, R Keane (J Cruyff, 83), N Butt (sub: O G Solskjaer, 77), J Blomqvist - D Yorke, A Cole.

Leicester (3-5-2): S Hislop - S Potts, R Ferdinand, N Ruddock - I Pearce, E Berkovic, S Lomas, F Lampard, S Lazaridis - J Hartson, T Sinclair (sub: J Cole, 46).

Scorers: Manchester United: Yorke (10), Cole (40, 68) Solskjaer (80)

Scorers: West Ham United: Lampard (88)

Referee: M Reed.

Attendance: 55,052.