Carlos Tevez struck a late goal to give Manchester United a 1-0 win at 10-man Stoke City today while Chelsea cruised to a 2-0 home victory over West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League's Christmas programme.
In the day's other early games West Ham United came from behind to win 4-1 at Portsmouth while Tottenham Hotspur against Fulham was goalless.
The results left Chelsea as provisional league leaders on 41 points, two ahead of Liverpool, who were at home to Bolton Wanderers later.
United, who have games in hand on all their rivals, moved back to third on 35 while Aston Villa, fourth on 34, were hosting Arsenal, fifth on 31, in the evening kickoff.
Stoke, beaten 5-0 at Old Trafford six weeks ago, made a much better fist of things on their own ground, where they have been impressive this season, and matched the champions in a tight first half.
United, perhaps weary from their Japanese trip for the Club World Cup, did not really test Thomas Sorenson until the second half when he kept out a stinging Paul Scholes shot.
However, Stoke then launched a series of attacks as Ricardo Fuller, playing as a lone striker, was denied by Edwin van der Sar, while Rory Delap's long throw-ins and free kicks caused all sorts of problems for the visiting defenders.
Things swung back United's way after 72 minutes when Andy Wilkinson hacked down Cristiano Ronaldo and was sent off for a second booking.
United took advantage when Gary Neville advanced up the right and crossed to substitute Dimitar Berbatov, who flicked the ball on to Tevez who thumped home from close range with seven minutes to go.
The win was slightly soured for United by an injury to Rio Ferdinand in the warmup that manager Alex Ferguson said could keep the defender out for around 10 days.
Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari opted to start with both Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka up front and Drogba struck after three minutes when he headed in a Joe Cole cross.
Chelsea were on top throughout and only good goalkeeping by Scott Carson, who tipped an Ashley Cole effort onto a post, kept them out.
However, some sloppy defending ended with the ball at Frank Lampard's feet and the England midfielder made it 2-0 just before halftime with a neat dink over the advancing Carson.
Craig Bellamy, the subject of a transfer bid from Tottenham Hotspur, scored two late goals as West Ham claimed a flattering win over a Portsmouth side who could and should have won the game and not just because of a missed Jermain Defoe penalty with the score at 1-1.