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Charlton 0
Man Utd 2
*Report From Football365*
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's double earned Manchester United their 11th win in 12 Premiership matches and sent them back to the top of the table.
Solskjaer provided two clinical finishes - one in each half - as the champions leapfrogged over Liverpool and Newcastle at the summit.
Sir Alex Ferguson's team showed just one change - Roy Carroll replacing Fabien Barthez in the week that both the French international and club denied he had been disciplined for attending a London nightclub hours before training in Manchester.
United's fluent passing game was not helped by the heavy pitch but, in between repelling Charlton's initial enthusiasm - emphasised by Jason Euell's crunching tackle that left David Beckham hobbling for five minutes - and another late home flurry, United showed their undoubted quality.
Beckham, who is set to lead his country in Wednesday's friendly with Holland, ran off what appeared to be a dead leg and showed he was prepared to muck in with other heavy legs around him.
Early on, Roy Keane's drive from the edge of the area was turned away low to his left by Dean Kiely. At the other end, none of a clutch of Charlton bodies could get a decisive contact on Mark Fish's near-post flick from a corner.
Van Nistelrooy had looped a volley off-target after nipping in ahead of Jorge Costa, and when the Dutch marksman exchanged passes with Beckham, the latter's attempt was deflected over the top.
The goal Ferguson's team had threatened arrived in the 33rd minute as Keane's sublime 40-yard pass arrowed over Fish's head and into the stride of Solskjaer, who controlled with his left foot and curled the ball around Kiely with his right.
Only moments later, the hosts might have been level after a scramble on the edge of the United area - Jason Euell lost his footing on the rutted surface and when Carroll spilled the loose ball the striker could only poke back into his arms from a prostrate position.
Solskjaer twice went close to doubling the advantage in the opening minutes of the second period.
First, after seizing on Giggs' clever pass, Kiely foiled him at his feet. Then, when Keane cushioned Beckham's deep cross into his path, the Norwegian flashed a volley the wrong side of Kiely's left-hand upright.
Just after the hour, however, Curbishley's men thought they had restored parity as Bart-Williams' delivery resulted in mayhem. Fish bobbled the ball goalwards and Graham Stuart diverted it past Carroll but to Charlton's dismay the linesman had spotted both Stuart and Euell in offside positions.
Charlton's vibrancy was soon sucked out of them, though, as Solskjaer finally added his and United's second.
Giggs wriggled free in the area and although his shot was battered out by Kiely, Solskjaer was on hand to poach his fifth goal in three matches from a diminishing angle.