MANCHESTER - Manchester United equalled a 100-year-old scoring record as they stormed to the Premier League summit with a clinical win over Middlesbrough.
Not since the days of Billy Meredith in 1907 had the Red Devils scored four in four successive games.
But, after accounting for Wigan, Aston Villa and Dynamo Kiev, Sir Alex Ferguson's free-scoring champions did it again to pile the pressure on Arsenal ahead of their visit to Liverpool.
Against opponents who had lost only once on their last six league visits to the Theatre of Dreams, Ferguson might have thought his side would be in for a tough afternoon once Jeremie Aliadiere had levelled Nani's spectacular opener.
However, Wayne Rooney profited from Stewart Downing's blunder to put the hosts in front before the break and Carlos Tevez finished the Teessiders off with a second-half double.
It was just the kind of victory Ferguson would have wanted and no matter what happens at Anfield on Sunday, United, with a free midweek in front of them thanks to their shock Carling Cup loss to Coventry, will approach their crunch showdown with Arsene Wenger's men at the Emirates Stadium next Saturday in confident mood.
For once, Ronaldo was not hogging the headlines either, as United's 'other' Portugal winger took centre stage.
Nani had already accounted for Tottenham earlier this season with one blockbuster. Yet even that memorable effort was eclipsed by his latest piledriver.
Taking up possession on halfway, Nani just seemed to amble into the space offered by Boro's backpedalling defence. Thirty yards out, he let fly with an unstoppable shot which flew over Mark Schwarzer and dipped under the crossbar.
Nani's gymnastic celebration was as amazing as the goal and if Tevez had been able to beat Schwarzer with an audacious chip after being released by Ronaldo shortly afterwards, United would have been doing handstands.
Instead, Tevez failed and Aliadiere promptly exposed previously unseen slackness in United's defence, arriving with perfect timing between Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic to nod home Tuncay's cross.
It was the first league goal United had conceded at Old Trafford this season and the first Premier League goal Aliadiere had scored for five years.
And, for a good time afterwards, it appeared as though the French forward would be doing his old Arsenal buddies a very good turn indeed.
However, any team hoping to gain reward from a trip to Old Trafford simply cannot afford the kind of unnecessary blunder Downing made as he dwelled in possession inside his own area and allowed Nani to toe a pass to Rooney which the gleeful striker smashed home.
Downing's error must have hurt even more given he had come within inches of putting Boro ahead when he met another Tuncay cross with a deft header that bounced wide with Edwin van der Sar beaten.
Not that Southgate could count himself especially unlucky to be behind at the break. Ronaldo had wasted two outstanding chances and within 30 seconds of the re-start, Rooney had belted another into the Stretford End after a sublime one-two with Tevez had cut Boro's defence apart.
It was a foretaste of what was to come for Boro, although there was one brief glimmer of hope before the game was taken away when Lee Cattermole, surprisingly preferred to skipper George Boateng, strode onto Tuncay's lay-off and let fly from almost the exact spot Nani had scored from earlier.
This time, Van der Sar was equal to the effort and before the visitors could threaten again, Anderson, Rooney and Tevez had weaved their magic to create United's third.
As they watched Tevez cushion Anderson's pass into Rooney's path, then stride forward to finish in clinical fashion after the England man had returned possession with an inspired back-heel, there could have been no-one left in the stadium, or anywhere else probably, who believes United's twin strikeforce are incapable of playing with each other.
The pair may be similar in size and approach but rather than blunting their individual edge, it just makes the Red Devils twice as dangerous.
With Owen Hargreaves lasting almost three-quarters of the game on only his fourth appearance since arriving from Bayern Munich, the day could not have gone much better for Ferguson and his men.
And the news from Stamford Bridge after the final whistle only brought even more glee.
