There are seven points now separating the Red Devils from second-placed Arsenal, who faltered yet once more after they could only draw 0-zero at residence to Blackburn.
And United’s title odds have been slashed from four-7 to 1-5 after a performance which highlighted their never-say-die perspective and the sheer class of the talismanic Rooney.
The 25-yr-old was just about nameless in the course of the opening half of the season but he has stepped up his performances and his finishing quality was simply an excessive amount of for the Hammers, who had regarded set to ease their relegation worries.
After a couple of Mark Noble penalties had handed the hosts a 2-zero lead, West Ham’s in-running Betfair odds shrank to a low of 1.16.
And their backers may have gotten the cigars out if Nemanja Vidic had received his marching orders for denying Demba Ba a run on goal within the closing phases of the half - he was solely booked by lenient arbiter Lee Mason.
It took Rooney 20 second-half minutes to scale back the deficit with a sweetly-struck free kick and after followingup with a nicely-taken 73rd-minute objective and a 79th-minute penalty he set United on their solution to a fourth successive victory.
And when Javier Hernandez wrapped up the points with an 84th-minute faucet in those that had backed the guests atan
in-running Betfair excessive of 30 might start to celebrate.
Arsenal’s zero-0 draw with Blackburn was the most recent disappointment in a season which is popping into a large anti-climax.
Arsene Wenger’s males have received simply one in all their final seven video games and so they have been eased to 6-1 to win the title.
Chelsea had hoped to sneak up on the rails however their challenge sustained a seemingly mortal blow when they were held to a
1-1 draw at Stoke.
Didier Drogba’s thirty third-minute equaliser rescued a degree for the Blues but they've been shunted out to 16-1 within the title betting.
There's nonetheless the whole lot to play for in the relegation scrap, with simply 5 points seperating the bottom eight clubs.
However West Brom might be feeling a little safer after a pair of Chris Brunt penalties helped them come from behind to file a 2-1 home victory over Liverpool.
And Birmingham are also on course for survival after goals from Kevin Phillips and Craig Gardner eased them to a 2-1 success at home to Bolton.
QPR’s lead on the high of the Championship has been minimize to 6 factors after second-placed Norwich registered a thumping 5-zero victory at house to relegation-haunted Scunthorpe.
Nevertheless, the Hoops, who entertain Sheffield United on Monday are crimson-scorching 1-9 favourites to finish top of the pile.
Schalke had been left cursing after their televised Friday evening match at St Pauli was abandoned in the 89th-minute when they have been main 2-0.
Referee Deniz Aytekin called a half to proceedings after his assistant Thorsten Schiffner was struck by an object thrown from the crowd.
But the ache of Schalke’s backers was eased by Bet365, Ladbrokes and Stan James, who voided all unresolved markets however paid out on the Royal Blues to win the match.
Sporting Gijon delivered an enormous dent to Real Madrid’s La Liga title hopes with a shock 1-0 win defeat on the Bernabeu on Saturday.
Miguel’s 79th-minute goal settled the contest for the guests, who have been out there at pre-match odds of 16-1.
Celtic are in pole place in the SPL title race after Rangers sustained a shock 3-2 defeat at residence to Dundee United.
The Gers stay two points behind having played the same variety of video games prompting layers to ease their title odds from 5-four to 13-8.
Celtic, whose game at Inverness was postponed, have been slashed from four-6 to four-7.
