admina 2-0 lead before Liverpool substitute Daniel Sturridge pulled one back for the visitors in this latest clash between England’s two most successful clubs.
When Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford in 1986 he said his aim was to “knock Liverpool off their perch”.
In his time at United the Scot has seen the club eclipse Liverpool’s previous English record of 18 domestic titles with a 19th triumph in 2011 and this win left Ferguson’s men a huge 24 points in front of their north-west rivals.
However, Ferguson told the BBC: “It obviously doesn’t matter when you play Liverpool, it is a big game and I hope it’s an important result.
“We were fantastic until their goal, which inspired them. They made a fist of it in last half hour and it made it an engrossing game.
“It was as good a performance as we’ve produced for a while. When you play Liverpool you have to be at your best form to win and we were.”
Van Persie gave United a 19th minute lead when he swept in Patrice Evra’s cross from eight yards out.
It was the Dutch striker’s 17th Premier League goal this term, and 21st in all competitions, since he arrived at Old Trafford in a £24 million pre-season move from top-flight rivals Arsenal.
United made it 2-0 nine minutes after half-time when full-back Evra’s header from van Persie’s free-kick deflected in off centre-half Vidic.
But three minutes later Sturridge, on at the start of the second half for Lucas Leiva, marked his Premier League debut for Liverpool with a goal when he followed up the rebound after David de Gea saved skipper Steven Gerrard’s shot from outside the box.
It was Sturridge’s second goal in as many games for Liverpool following his move from European champions champions Chelsea after he was on target in the 2-1 FA Cup win over Mansfield last weekend.
However, Sturridge failed to make the most of two more chances and United held on for victory.
Liverpool remained eighth in the table and manager Brendan Rodgers praised his team’s resilience.
“In the second half, after we conceded the goal, we could have given up the fight but that is nature of the group,” Rodgers said. “In the end, I thought we maybe deserved something from the game.
“In the first half we never threatened enough. There wasn’t too many chances either way and the ones they had we presented to them. He (Daniel Sturridge) was terrific when he came on and we were much better in the second half.”
Meanwhile, Manchester City kept the title race alive as the champions won 2-0 at 10-man Arsenal to secure their first away league success over the Gunners for nearly 38 years.
Roberto Mancini’s side knew anything less than a victory at the Emirates Stadium would all but end their title hopes.
But second-placed City showed their determination to hold on to the crown with a first league win on Arsenal turf since October 1975.
The turning point came early on when Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny was sent off by referee Mike Dean for a professional foul on Edin Dzeko.
Although Dzeko missed the penalty which resulted from that incident, City exploited their numerical superiority in ruthless fashion with goals from James Milner and Dzeko before half-time.
City had captain Vincent Kompany sent off in the closing stages, but it was too late to spark an Arsenal fightback and Mancini’s men, who have won five of their last six league games, will believe they can still overturn United’s seven-point lead.
In contrast, Arsenal’s spluttering attempts to qualify for the Champions League look more unconvincing by the week and Arsene Wenger’s side remain six points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.
City returned a large portion of their 3 000 ticket allocation after fans refused to pay £62 for seats in the away end, but those who boycotted the fixture missed an historic day for their club.
Police had been called to deal with a suspect package in a car park close to the Emirates before kick-off, but it was Arsenal’s hapless defending that gave more cause for alarm.
City benefited from those frailties in the 10th minute when Koscielny rashly grabbed hold of Dzeko and hauled the Bosnian forward to the turf as the pair contested a high ball in the Arsenal area.
Dean immediately awarded a penalty and sent off Koscielny for his rugby tackle.
It looked like advantage City but Wojciech Szczesny came to Arsenal’s rescue as he deflected Dzeko’s spot-kick onto a post with his legs and then clasped the ball to his body as it rebounded along the goal-line and into his arms.
Dzeko, attempting to make amends for his penalty miss, screwed a shot wildly off target from a tight angle with two City team-mates screaming for a pass.
English Premier League table
P W D L F A Pts
Man Utd 22 18 1 3 56 29 55
Man City 22 14 6 2 43 19 48
Chelsea 21 12 5 4 43 19 41
Tottenham 22 12 4 6 39 27 40
Everton 22 9 10 3 35 26 37
Arsenal 21 9 7 5 40 24 34
West Brom 22 10 3 9 31 30 33
Liverpool 22 8 7 7 35 28 31
Swansea 22 7 9 6 31 26 30
Stoke 22 6 11 5 21 24 29
West Ham 21 7 5 9 24 27 26
Norwich 22 6 8 8 24 34 26
Fulham 22 6 7 9 33 38 25
Sunderland 22 6 7 9 24 29 25
Southampton 21 5 6 10 28 38 21
Newcastle 22 5 6 11 27 39 21
Wigan 22 5 4 13 23 40 19
Aston Villa 22 4 7 11 17 42 19
Reading 22 3 7 12 26 42 16
QPR 22 2 8 12 17 36 14 — AFP.
Online Reporter