Wayne Rooney scored a two-penalty hat-trick as Manchester United won 4-1 at Portsmouth on Saturday to trim Chelsea's Premier League lead to two points.
Ryan Giggs also struck for the champions who now have 31 points from 14 games, two behind Chelsea who play at third-placed Arsenal (25 points) on Sunday.
Manchester City remain sixth on 22 after they were held 1-1 at home by struggling Hull City to record a Premier League record seventh successive draw.
West Ham United beat Burnley 5-3 while Wigan Athletic bounced back from last week's 9-1 hammering by Tottenham Hotspur by beating Sunderland 1-0.
QUIET GAME
Rooney earned the headlines with his hat-trick but in truth the England striker, along with several of his United team mates, otherwise had a quiet game.
Portsmouth, who have beaten United and drawn with them at Fratton Park in the last two seasons as well as knocking them out of the FA Cup at Old Trafford last year, were the better team for much of the first half in their first game under manager Avram Grant following the midweek sacking of Paul Hart.
However, they paid for missing several good chances when United went ahead with a Rooney penalty after 25 minutes after he had been brought down by Michael Brown.
The referee evened things up seven minutes later with another hotly debated penalty award when he decided that Frederic Piquionne had had his shirt pulled and Kevin Prince Boateng scored it.
United looked far livelier after the break and neat work by Giggs, who turns 36 on Sunday, set up Rooney to fire home his second.
The third penalty of the match was awarded for a foul on Giggs in the 54th minute and Rooney duly converted for his hat-trick before Giggs rounded things off with a late free kick to register his 100th Premier League goal.
United's ability to win comfortably without hitting top form is in marked contrast with cross-town rivals City, whose top-four aspirations recede with every passing stalemate.
They went ahead with a deflected long-range shot by Shaun Wright-Phillips at the end of the first half but Hull battled throughout and grabbed a point with a Jimmy Bullard penalty eight minutes from time.
West Ham, who had managed only one home win before Saturday, were grateful to be playing a Burnley side who lost five and drawn one of their six away games.
The Londoners went ahead through Jack Collison, added a second through Junior Stanislas and were 3-0 up at halftime with a Carlton Cole penalty.
Guillermo Franco and a Luis Jimenez penalty had the home fans singing, before two goals for Steven Fletcher and one for Chris Eagles brought some respectability to the scoreline.
As well as the big London derby at the Emirates on Sunday Everton host Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers play Birmingham City.
