Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals in as many minutes on Sunday to give Manchester United a 2-0 win over Blackburn in the Premier League.
Ronaldo scored in the 34th and 35th minutes against Blackburn, which had David Dunn sent off in the 53rd.
Manchester United moved ahead of Arsenal, but the Gunners had an opportunity to move back into first place yesterday when they visited Reading.
"I'm really happy with that result because they are a good side," Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said. "With the front players we've got, one is going to produce something on the day, we feel -- today it was Ronaldo."
Also on Sunday, Tim Cahill scored an injury-time equalizer to give Everton a 1-1 draw at Chelsea, and Gabriel Agbonlahor scored the winning goal moments after making a goal-line clearance in Aston Villa's 2-1 victory over city rival Birmingham.
Tottenham won only their second league game this season by beating Wigan 4-0, and Bolton and Middlesbrough drew 0-0. Manchester City stayed third after a 0-0 draw at Portsmouth.
Manchester United lead the league with 30 points, followed by Arsenal with 27, Manchester City with 26, Chelsea with 25 and Liverpool with 24.
Ronaldo headed his first goal after taking a cross from Ryan Giggs. A minute later, Ronaldo shot into the corner of the goal in United's next attack.
Dunn was sent off after picking up his second yellow card for a foul on United striker Louis Saha, who was starting his first league game this season after recovering from injury.
Wayne Rooney was missing after hurting his ankle in a training mishap on Friday.
Cahill scored with a bicycle kick after Juliano Belletti failed to clear a shot by James McFadden. Didier Drogba had given Chelsea the lead with a header in the 70th minute.
Chelsea twice nearly scored in the 28th minute. Shaun Wright-Phillips had a shot saved by Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, who then leapt to block a shot from Frank Lampard.
"I thought every 10 minutes we had a chance to win the game," Chelsea manager Avram Grant said.
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