Substitute Robin van Persie (L) celebrates after sealing Manchester United's 2-0 win over with West Brom, scoring his 14th league goal this season.
(CNN) -- Goals rained down in the English Premier League on Saturday, but for once Manchester United played it safe to stay seven points clear at the top of the table.
Alex Ferguson's team kept a clean sheet for the first time in six games, beating West Bromwich Albion 2-0 at home in a match that had been in danger of succumbing to the UK's recent wet weather.
By contrast, second-placed Manchester City scrambled a 4-3 win at Norwich, Tottenham came from behind to claim third with a 2-1 victory at Sunderland and Arsenal moved fifth after triumphing 7-3 at home to Newcastle.
All eight EPL matches provided goals -- 35 in all -- with Stoke drawing 3-3 with Southampton, Wigan beating Aston Villa 3-0, Swansea winning 2-1 at Fulham and Reading ending a long winless run by defeating West Ham 1-0.
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United edged a controversial seven-goal thriller against Newcastle on Wednesday, showing the defensive frailties that have plagued the 19-time English champions this season, but the return of Nemanja Vidic helped steady the side against a West Brom team that has dropped to seventh place.
Patrice Evra gave Manchester United a 16th minute lead at Swansea after heading home Robin van Persie's corner.
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Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart of confronts a pitch invader at the end of his side's 3-2 derby defeat by Manchester United, whose defender Rio Ferdinand (at back) was left with a bloody face after being hit by a coin thrown from the crowd.
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The visitors went behind in the ninth minute when Gareth McAuley deflected Ashley Young's cross past his own keeper -- former United player Ben Foster -- and substitute Robin van Persie wrapped it up at the end with a curling shot for his league-leading 14th goal this season.
Ferguson was widely criticized for harassing match officials during the Newcastle match and for claiming that Van Persie "could have been killed" during the 1-1 draw with Swansea, but he kept his comments low-key this time.
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"The pitch was a problem for us with the way we pass the ball -- it slowed our game down a bit," said Ferguson, who turns 71 on Monday.
"We did well in the first half, we dominated at times, but you must give credit to West Brom who had more of the game in the second half and were a threat with their crosses.
"They had quite a bit of possession into the second period so we decided to bring Robin and Paul Scholes on just to settle us down a bit and they did that well.
"It's a good result considering how heavy the pitch was -- that's two games in four days on it and it's not easy. The slowness of it killed our speed."
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West Brom boss Steve Clarke agreed with the officials' decision to go ahead with the match after a late inspection of the waterlogged pitch.
"We used to play on pitches like that all the time. You don't look for games to be called off for no reason and there was no reason today," he said.
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was not so happy after his defending champions bounced back from the 1-0 defeat by Sunderland.
Recalled striker Edin Dzeko scored twice inside four minutes, but Norwich got back into the game after Samir Nasri was sent off just before halftime following an altercation with Sebastien Bassong.
"Both players came forward with their heads, so if you are going to send off one, then you have to send off both, not only Samir," Mancini said.
"I am disappointed with Samir, and he will pay his fine, but the decision was not correct."
The Italian will go into the New Year trying to retrieve a sizable deficit, though City overhauled United's eighth-point lead last season to win the club's first title since 1968.
"It's not important to look at the table because it's not final but we need only to work, to win and then maybe we'll look again at the table in February," he said.
Dzeko almost had a hat-trick, but his 67th-minute shot hit the post and went into the net off Norwich goalkeeper Mark Bunn for 4-2, which was ruled to be an own goal.
Russell Martin netted his second on 75, but Norwich stayed 11th after a third successive defeat.
Tottenham moved a point above London rivals Chelsea, who travel to sixth-placed Everton on Sunday.
Sunderland went ahead against the run of play as skipper John O'Shea scored his first goal for the club five minutes before halftime, but Carlos Cuellar headed into his own net after the break and Aaron Lennon's 51st-minute winner left Spurs six points behind City.
However, Tottenham star Gareth Bale -- a reported target for Real Madrid in the January transfer window -- was frustrated after being booked for diving for the third time this season.
"That's three times now I've been clipped and booked for no reason," said the Wales winger, who will miss Tuesday's clash with Reading following his fifth yellow card this season.
"People keep saying I'm diving, but if there's contact it's not diving. Referees need to look more closely."
Theo Walcott bolstered his claims for a regular starting place as a central striker with his second-hat-trick this season in Arsenal's topsy-turvy win over 15th-placed Newcastle, which put the London side two points behind Chelsea.
The visitors leveled three times as Demba Ba netted twice to take his league tally to 13, but Walcott's treble was complemented by a late double from substitute forward Olivier Giroud after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski also scored.
Walcott has yet to agree a new contract, and the England international will have no lack of interest from other clubs after taking his tally to 14 goals in all competitions this season -- only Van Persie has more with 17.
Stoke stayed eighth after coming from 3-1 down against third-bottom Southampton, extending the club's unbeaten home record to nine matches thanks to substitute striker Cameron Jerome's spectacular late equalizer.
Defender Matthew Upson had reduced the deficit to 3-2 before teammate Steven Nzonzi was sent off for a challenge on Jack Cork.
Swansea moved up to ninth as Fulham's stand-in keeper David Stockdale gifted the visitors two goals -- the first to striker Danny Graham, playing in place of the Welsh club's top scorer Michu, and the second to Canadian midfielder Jonathan de Guzman.
Bryan Ruiz pulled one back after Dimitar Berbatov hit the crossbar, and the Bulgarian had a late effort ruled out for offside as the London side ended the year just four points above the relegation zone in 14th place.
Wigan moved out of the bottom three after handing fellow strugglers Aston Villa a third successive defeat that will increase the pressure on manager Paul Lambert after the 8-0 demolition by Chelsea and a 4-0 home loss to Spurs.
Reading stayed second from bottom despite the promoted club winning for only the second time this season, thanks to a fifth-minute goal from Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak that extended 12th-placed West Ham's winless run to four matches.
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Alex Ferguson shouts at assistant referee Andy Garrett in scenes reminiscent of the midweek 4-3 win over Newcastle, after which the United manager was widely criticized for harrassing match officials.
The match was cleared to go ahead after a late pitch inspection following days of rain in the UK. Groundstaff remove waterproof covers which protected the playing surface.
It was pouring down in Norwich, where second-placed Manchester City won 4-3 despite having Samir Nasri (R) sent off following this clash with Sebastien Bassong, who was booked.
Edin Dzeko had put the visitors 2-0 ahead inside five minutes, and the recalled Bosnian striker was involved in the decisive fourth goal -- his shot hit the post and rebounded into the net off Norwich goalkeeper Mark Bunn, who was credited with an own-goal.
Tottenham went third with a 2-1 win at Sunderland but the victory was marred by Gareth Bale's third booking this season for alleged diving -- the Wales winger will now be suspended for the next match against Reading.
Theo Walcott (C) scored a hat-trick to inspire fifth-placed Arsenal to a 7-3 home win against Newcastle, while substitute Olivier Giroud (R) also netted twice.
Evra races away to celebrate with teammate Michael Carrick in hot pursuit as the league leaders make the perfect start in Wales.
Michu's 13th league goal of the season ensured Swansea grabbed a point from a pulsating contest. The Spaniard, who cost $3.2 million from Rayo Vallecano, has impressed since his arrival in the Premier League in July.
Ashley Williams and United's van Persie clash after the Swansea defender had kicked the ball against the Dutchman while he was on the floor. United manager Alex Ferguson was left fuming at Williams and said: "The Van Persie situation you can clearly see that he could have been killed."
Ferguson was left raging after seeing van Persie struck by the ball and vented his fury after the contest. He said: "It was absolutely deliberate. The whistle has gone, the game has stopped and he has done that right in front of the referee, he could have killed the lad. It was a disgraceful act by the player, he should banned for a long time."
Fernando Torres headed Chelsea in front against Aston Villa with his 14th goal of the season. The Spaniard's goalscoring form has been transformed since the arrival of new interim manager Rafa Benitez. Chelsea crushed Villa 8-0 to inflict the worst ever top-flight defeat on the visiting club.
David Luiz doubled Chelsea's lead on 29 minutes with a spectacular free-kick as Chelsea cruised past a young Villa side at Stamford Bridge.
Branislav Ivanovic grabbed his fourth league goal of the season to give Chelsea a three-goal lead at the break. The Serbia defender, who also scored at Leeds in midweek, headed home from close-range to wrap up the game after just 34 minutes.
Frank Lampard became Chelsea's all-time leading scorer in top-flight football after hitting his 130th goal on his 500th league start. Lampard's drive gave the home side a 4-0 lead as Villa began to wilt.
Ramires came off the bench to score twice as Chelsea eventually declared on eight. It could have been worse for Villa as Lucas Piazon missed a penalty. Eden Hazard and Oscar were also on target.
Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart confronts a pitch invader trying to harass Manchester United's Ferdinand, who had been hit in the face by a coin thrown from the crowd.
United's players celebrate Robin Van Persie's decisive late goal in a 3-2 victory -- which was met by missiles and smoke bombs hurled by City supporters.
A total of 13 fans were arrested and nine charged -- one with making alleged racist chants. Here a City supporter shouts across the police security cordon.
Ferdinand, left, wore a t-shirt supporting the anti-racism group Kick It Out in October, having earlier refused to do so in protest at a perceived leniency in punishment for John Terry, who was accused of racially abusing the United player's younger brother Anton. Kick It Out chairman Herman Ouseley has also criticized the English FA and the Premier League for failing to take strong action in recent high-profile racism cases.
The day before the Manchester derby, a man was arrested and charged for racially abusing Norwich's Cameroon international Sebastien Bassong in a Premier League match at Swansea. Norwich later revealed that police are investigating four separate racist attacks on Bassong.
Clarke Carlisle is the chairman of the English players' union. He has called for the FA to take its chance to address problems that have been ignored for years. "Previously there were behaviors that we have just passed off as 'Ah, that's football,' " he told CNN.
Police intervened to eject the invader, and the Greater Manchester force also announced after the match that another man was arrested inside City's Etihad Stadium on suspicion of chanting racist abuse.
The match was settled in the second minute of time added on by Manchester United's Dutch striker Robin Van Persie.
Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri (left) diverted Van Persie's free kick past Hart as he backed off from his position in the defensive wall.
Wayne Rooney had put United 2-0 ahead inside half an hour, with the 27-year-old becoming the youngest player to score 150 goals in the English Premier League.
United should have gone 3-0 ahead just before the hour mark but Ashley Young's effort was ruled out in a marginal offside decision. City hit back immediately through midfielder Yaya Toure.
Pablo Zabaleta, right, fired an equalizer in the 86th minute to give second-placed City hope of extending a 21-game unbeaten league run that went back to last season's title-winning climax.
However, Van Persie's 11th EPL goal since signing from Arsenal for $38 million in August left City six points behind leaders United after 16 matches.
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