London: Wayne Rooney scored twice as Manchester United came from behind to beat Sheffield United 2-1 and stay three points clear of champions Chelsea at the top of the Premier League in Saturday.
Chelsea beat West Ham United 1-0 at Stamford Bridge where Geremi scored the only goal with a 22nd-minute free kick to stretch Chelsea's unbeaten home league run to 51 matches.
Arsenal, though, who moved into third place last week, lost ground after being held to a 1-1 draw at home by Newcastle United.
They dropped back to fourth after Portsmouth beat Watford 2-1 to move above them. United, who have won their last seven successive league games, top the table with 34 points from 13 matches, Chelsea have 31 from 13, Portsmouth 23 from 13 and Arsenal 22 from 12.
Sheffield United and Manchester United, meeting in the league for the first time for 13 years, played out a fiercely contested, full-blooded match at Bramall Lane where the home side struck first.
Keith Gillespie, who began his career at Manchester United and played a handful of games before leaving in 1995 as part of the deal that took Andy Cole from Newcastle to Old Trafford, opened the scoring with a diving header after 13 minutes.
But 17 minutes later the leaders were level with Rooney scoring his sixth league goal of the season and the striker, who scored England's goal in the Netherlands in midweek, secured United the points with a 75th minute winner.
Rare Goal
At Stamford Bridge, Geremi scored his first goal since October 2005 with a superbly taken 22nd-minute free kick awarded after Danny Gabbidon fouled Didier Drogba.
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It was enough to give Chelsea all three points and keep the Hammers firmly entrenched in the battle for survival at the wrong end of the table.
While Manchester United and Chelsea were both winning, Arsenal were forced to settle for a draw at the Emirates Stadium against Newcastle, who have not won in nine league matches.
Kieron Dyer, making his first league start of the season after coming on as a substitute against Manchester City last week, scored his first goal for 20 months after 30 minutes when he curled a low shot past Jens Lehmann in the Arsenal goal.
Despite the home side having most of the possession, they only scored once when Thierry Henry, a second half substitute, equalised with a 70th-minute free kick.
Charlton, playing under new manager Les Reed for the first time following Iain Dowie's departure on Monday, stayed nailed to the bottom with eight points after losing 2-0 at Reading where Seol Ki-hyeon and Kevin Doyle scored for the impressive home side.
Portsmouth came from behind to beat second-to-bottom Watford 2-1 with goals from Nwankwo Kanu (44) and a last-minute penalty from Lomano Lua Lua after American Jay DeMerit had given Watford the lead after 32 minutes.
Manchester City beat Fulham 3-1 in the lunchtime kickoff while Everton ended a run of three league matches without a win by beating Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at home with Mikel Arteta scoring the only goal after an hour. Liverpool drew their game away to Middlesbrough in a late kickoff.
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