London: Wayne Rooney's perfectly executed overhead kick on Saturday gave Manchester United a 2-1 derby victory over Manchester City, putting the leaders four points clear of Arsenal while silencing his detractors.
Spotting Nani's cross floating into the penalty area with his back to goal, the acrobatic Rooney leapt between two defenders and connected with a right-footed strike that flew past goalkeeper Joe Hart, who remained rooted to the spot.
"I was just trying to keep my eye on the ball and to get a good connection," Rooney said. "Luckily it went into the top corner."
The goal capped United's immediate response to last weekend's first loss of the league season at Wolverhampton Wanderers, which couldn't repeat the feat at second-place Arsenal on Saturday, going down 2-0.
City is four points adrift of Arsenal and eight behind United as manager Roberto Mancini struggles to turn the league's most expensively assembled squad into title winners.
"It is a significant result and almost certainly rules City out of the title race unless a disaster happens," Rooney said.
Rooney's matchwinner should help to restore his standing among United fans, who were enraged by his thwarted attempt to leave the 18-time champions last year when City was being touted as a likely destination.
The England forward's spectacular combination of intuition and technique in the 78th minute produced his sixth goal of an injury-hit season for United.
And the goal outshone Dimitar Berbatov's own overhead strike in September against Liverpool when the Bulgaria striker hurled himself backward to met a cross from Nani.
On Saturday, Berbatov — United's leading scorer — didn't appear until the 67th when the score was 1-1.
Nani had put United in front in the 40th by controlling Ryan Giggs' first-time pass before rolling the ball past Hart.
City equalized in the 64th when Shaun Wright-Phillips crossed for Edin Dzeko, whose shot went in off David Silva's back.
"Nani scored a fantastic goal but nobody in their right mind will talk about it because the winner was unbelievable," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "We have had some fantastic goals here but in terms of execution, you will never see that."
Even though the score didn't reflect it, Arsenal's victory was far more comfortable, with Robin van Persie scoring twice.
The 16th-minute opener was an athletic volley from Cesc Fabregas' cross and Walcott created the second for Van Persie, who slotted home his 10th league goal of 2011 at the start of the second half.
"The chances we created and the speed of our play was fantastic," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "We are in the title race and in a good position."
The result sent Wolves back to the bottom of the standings in place of West Ham. The Hammers came from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at West Bromwich, which is only out of the drop zone on goal difference.
Graham Dorrans and Jerome Thomas both scored for West Brom in the opening eight minutes and Dorrans' left-wing free kick was diverted into the net in the 32nd by the arm of Hammers defender Winston Reid.
Demba Ba pulled a goal back five minutes after half time — the Senegal striker's first in English football — and he netted again in the 83rd to complete the comeback after Carlton Cole's goal.
Wigan is the third team in the relegation zone despite putting the brakes on Liverpool's recent revival with a 1-1 draw at Anfield.
Midfielder Raul Meireles netted his fourth goal in five games for Liverpool, but Wigan equalized when Steve Gohouri got the final touch on Antolin Alcaraz's flick — despite appearing to be in an offside position.
Liverpool had risen to sixth by winning four straight games in the Premier League under new manager Kenny Dalglish.
Blackpool is two points above the bottom three after ending a five-match losing run by drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa.
Elliot Grandin headed home to cancel out Gabriel Agbonlahor's opener for Villa, which is just a point and a place above Blackpool.
Birmingham joined Villa on 30 points after Nikola Zigic's stoppage time header secured a 1-0 victory over Stoke.
The teams in the middle of the standings — Newcastle and Blackburn — also met on Saturday and neither side could find a breakthrough and drew 0-0.
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