Star forward Wayne Rooney scored two goals to lead Manchester United to a 2-1 win over Sheffield United on Saturday.

With the victory, Manchester United maintains its three-point lead atop the English Premiership standings. Manchester has 34 points, three more than London-based Chelsea, which defeated West Ham United 1-0 at home on Saturday.

Wayne Rooney, shown last year playing for the English national team, scored two goals for Manchester United on Saturday.
(Daniel Maurer/Associated Press)

Keith Gillespie scored in the 13th minute to give Sheffield a shocking lead, but Manchester quickly regrouped and levelled the score when Rooney found the back of the net 17 minutes later.

Rooney bagged his second goal in the 75th minute to guide Manchester to its seventh straight victory.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson credited the work of his midfield for the victory.

"A certain maturity is helping us," Ferguson said. "I think Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes are using all that experience in the midfield, taking their time, being patient, probing away for opportunities.

"And when you've got front players like we've got — if we get chances, one or two will take them."

Chelsea, the two-time reigning champion of England, solidified its second-place spot thanks to Saturday's victory.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho gave credit to Geremi, who scored the winning goal on a free kick in the 22nd minute.

"He takes free kicks, but he doesn't play a lot," Mourinho said. "He practises a lot, but I don't give him a lot of chances to play. So now I am giving him chances to play and he's playing well."

Portsmouth moved into third place with 23 points, rallying for a 2-1 victory over Watford on a goal in the 89th from Lomana LuaLua.

Arsenal settled for a 1-1 draw at home against struggling Newcastle. That result, combined with Portsmouth's win, sees Arsenal slip to fourth place with 22 points.

With files from Associated Press