Manchester United hardly broke sweat on their way to a 3-1 win over Sunderland, as Liverpool went down tamely to a clinical Aston Villa side in the English Premier League.
Goals from Robin Van Persie, Tom Cleverley and Wayne Rooney ensured United stay six points clear of Manchester City, who won 3-1 at Newcastle earlier, with former United player Frazier Campbell scoring Sunderland's consolation goal.
In the game at Old Trafford there was really only one team. United started on the front foot, and basically put the game to bed within the first 20 minutes.
After several initial attacks, it was the best striker in the Premier League currently that opened the scoring. Ashley Young fought his way through to force a cross down the left, which Van Persie placed perfectly into the top corner of the net with his magical left foot - his 15th goal of the campaign.
United were rampant and doubled their lead off a slick move. Tom Cleverley played a neat one two with Michael Carrick before the former curled in a strike beautifully past goalkeeper Simon Mognolet. United were 2-0 ahead after just 19 minutes, and Rooney should have made it 3-0 soon after, but the England forward struck his shot wide, after a nice knockdown from Van Persie.
The first half was all United, and if there is anything that Sir Alex Ferguson would have been unhappy about, it would have been that his team were only leading 2-0 going into the break.
The second half needed a Sunderland side to come out and play out of their skins, and hope the home team slip up. That, expectedly, did not happen, as United, in just second gear in the entire second half, made it 3-0 just before the hour.
Van Persie latched onto a ball from Young, before wriggling his way into space down the left and finding the perfect ball for Rooney to tap-in.
Frazier Campbell got the away side's only goal of the game with 18 minutes remaining, heading home from six yards off a cross from Stephane Sessegnon, but that was all Sunderland could muster as United remained rampant and semmingly unbreakable in the Premier League.
At Anfield, Liverpool bossed the possession, but it was Villa that went away with all three points as Christian Benteke carved the Liverpool defense wide open with an absolute master class.
The striker opened the scoring with a brilliant low drive in the 29th minute, completely against the run of play. He then played a wonderful backheel to set up Andreas Weimann for an equally impressive finish five minutes before halftime.
Benteke then did it all himself early in the second half, scything through the Liverpool defense, before expertly finishing past Pepe Reina to send Villa 3-0 ahead.
Steven Gerrard got a consolation goal late on, but it was too little too late as Brendan Rodgers will now have to go back to the drawing board just when it looked like his side were on the up.
Elsewhere, Queens Park Rangers got their first win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Fulham. Adel Taarabt scored two second half goals to give his side a 2-0 lead before Mladen Petric reduced the deficit late on. But, Harry Redknapp's side held on in the final moments to pick up their first victory in 17 games.
Results: Newcastle 1-3 Manchester City; Liverpool 1-3 Aston Villa; Manchester United 3-1 Sunderland; Norwich 2-1 Wigan; QPR 2-1 Fulham; Stoke 1-1 Everton.
