The result lifted champions United back ahead of Arsenal, who defeated fourth-placed Aston Villa 3-0 with Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas coming off the bench to score two second-half goals, into second place.
Stuttering Chelsea faltered on Saturday when they failed to score for the first time in 34 games and were held to a 0-0 draw at Birmingham City.
"He made a mistake in giving away the ball for a goal, that was his one bad moment in the game," said manager Alex Ferguson of Rooney's contribution. "But I thought he was exceptionally good today.
"He's a natural winner, always had a great attitude and determination to do well and he would be more sick than anyone that he made a mistake. He rectified it in a nice way," he told Sky Sports television.
FABREGAS DOUBLE
With the third and fourth-placed sides deadlocked at halftime, Fabregas came on for Brazilian midfielder Denilson in the 58th minute and immediately added steel to the Londoners' title challenge.
"It's a recurrence of his hamstring," Wenger told Sky when asked about Fabregas's condition. "We knew before the game that it was not perfect, I decided to put him on the bench.
"But we were in the situation where he was needed. We will see if we will have long regrets or short regrets," added the Frenchman.
"I don't believe it is too bad. He doesn't think it is too bad...if it is a pull again then this time it is three weeks so let's hope its only a little bit of scar tissue," Wenger said.
