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United's Wayne Rooney celebrates - Source: Reuters -
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Manchester United recovered from an early shock to beat arch-rivals Liverpool 2-1 in a scrappy but tense match on Monday and move back to the top of the Premier League.
Goals by Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-sung lifted the champions to 69 points from 31 games, two ahead of Arsenal.
Chelsea, third on 65 points, missed their chance to grab a valuable three points as they fluffed their lines with a 1-1 draw against Blackburn, but they do have a match in hand over the leading pair.
Liverpool struck first in glorious spring sunshine at Old Trafford when an unmarked Fernando Torres headed in Dirk Kuyt's cross after only five minutes but their lead was short-lived.
United drew level seven minutes later after Javier Mascherano conceded a penalty for a foul on Antonio Valencia and, although Rooney's spot-kick was saved by Pepe Reina, the England striker pounced on the rebound to score his 33rd goal of the season.
Korean Park scored the winner when he converted Darren Fletcher's cross from the right with a brave diving header after 60 minutes.
"It wasn't a classic, but it was so intense, I am sure no-one went for a cup of tea watching it on television that's for sure," United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports.
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez watched his side lose ground in the race for fourth place with their 10th defeat of the season.
"They are a good team obviously, but they didn't have too many options and we could have got a draw with a bit of luck," Benitez said.
First Club
The victory strengthened United's challenge to become the first English club to win four successive championship titles. It would be their 19th crown, one more than Liverpool.
Liverpool's goal now is to gain a place in next season's Champions League through the qualifiers, but they remained on 51 points, four points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur (55pts), and slipped back to sixth after Manchester City won 2-1 at Fulham.
Liverpool went into the game buoyed by three successive victories over United, including last season's 4-1 triumph at Old Trafford, and wins over Portsmouth and Lille in the past week.
They started the brighter when Torres escaped his marker Gary Neville to plant a superbly executed header wide of goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.
But they were unable to establish any superiority as Mascherano conceded a controversial penalty when he began his challenge on Valencia outside the penalty area.
Referee Howard Webb, England's representative at the World Cup this year, awarded the spot-kick and Rooney's effort was saved he slammed in on the rebound.
Goal chances were limited with Liverpool's Steven Gerrard having a disappointing game in midfield and hardly creating an opportunity, but the deadlock was broken when Rooney found Fletcher on the right and Park headed in Fletcher's cross.
Torres and Yossi Benayoun had opportunities to score a late equaliser but United held firm.
Manchester City maintained their drive to finish fourth with goals from Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez giving them a 2-1 win at Fulham.
The hosts could not repeat Friday's heroics against Juventus in the Europa League and grabbed just a consolation goal through a late Danny Murphy penalty.
