For the first time since mid-October, United can look at the table on a Monday morning and see their names above City at the top.
Wayne Rooney continued his hot streak with another double. But the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for Swansea’s Luke Moore, who sentenced City to defeat at the Liberty Stadium.
The FA Cup defeat by Liverpool and the Europa League home setbacks against Ajax and Athletic Bilbao have tended to obscure United’s league form since the back-to-back defeats by Blackburn and Newcastle at the start of the year.
They have picked up 22 points out of the past 24 – including wins over Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and a draw at Chelsea – while City’s defeats against Everton and Swansea in the same period mean they have managed only 18 from 24.
That has put United in the box seat and if they win at Wolves on Sunday, they will go four clear before City play again – their home clash with Chelsea having been put back to a week on Wednesday because of the London club’s FA Cup match.
The only disappointment for Sir Alex Ferguson was that United missed a great opportunity to further reduce City’s superior goal difference, especially after West Brom were forced to play with 10 men for the final 25 minutes following Jonas Olsson’s red card for a second bookable offence.
Olsson had been cautioned for clumsily bundling over Rooney and could have no complaints when referee Lee Probert showed him a second yellow and the red after a scything tackle from behind on Javier Hernandez.
United were leading 1-0 at that stage, courtesy of Rooney’s 35th-minute strike that underlined his sharpness in front of goal. He nipped in between two defenders to divert Hernandez’s shot past Ben Foster.
Rooney’s second came from the penalty spot, five minutes after Olsson’s dismissal, following Keith Andrews’ pull on Ashley Young.
That made it nine goals in his past six games and 26 for the season. Ferguson’s post-match demand for 40 goals by the end of the season might be asking a lot, but he is on course to beat his best of 34 in 2009-10.
Albion boss Roy Hodgson set aside his frustration at Probert’s failure to award a penalty for Patrice Evra’s trip on Peter Odemwingie when the score was 1-0, to praise Rooney.
“He’s certainly playing well,” he said. “His goal was a mark of that. He came from nowhere and it’s the type you don’t concede too often in the Premier League unless you are playing against a player of his calibre.
“We made a good fist of the first half until Rooney’s goal. There were a lot of tired legs out there but they never gave up, never stopped fighting.”
Albion made an encouraging start, with Andrews going close to giving them a fifth-minute lead. After their wins over Wolves and Chelsea had cost Mick McCarthy and Andre Villas-Boas their jobs, visiting fans taunted Fergusonwith “You’re getting sacked in the morning”.
But once Rooney had put United ahead, there looked little danger of West Brom matching last season’s feat of being the only team to take a league point at Old Trafford.
But they made United work hard, getting plenty of players behind the ball and denying them time and space.
United remained patient and in the end should have run up a bigger score. Danny Welbeck missed an open goal, Hernandez struck a post and then lifted a simple chance over the bar.
So United have their noses in front and, with their superior knowledge of course and distance, few would back against them, especially when the respective run-ins are assessed.
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