Manchester United kept alive their slim hopes of regaining the Premier League title on Sunday, when they beat Arsenal 2-0.

Second-half goals from Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-sung extended their winning run to nine games.

Chelsea's 4-1 win over West Ham earlier in the day meant that anything less than victory would have left United with virtually no chance of closing what is now a seven-point gap on the leaders with just five games to play.

Arsenal needed maximum points themselves as they look to overhaul Tottenham Hotspur to claim fourth position and a place in the qualifying round of next season's Champions League, should they fail to win this year's competition.

But the London club has failed to beat United in a league game since May 2002 and that winless record stretched to eight games thanks largely to Rooney's wonderfully taken 17th-goal of the season.

United used the game to mark the 50th-anniversary of the first league title won by the team that became known as the Busby Babes, with the average age of their 1956 championship side just 22 years.

It was fitting that the decisive goal nine minutes after halftime came from Rooney, who at the age of 20 has the potential to become another United great.

The England international, who should have earned United a first-half penalty when his shot was pushed on to the post by the hands of Arsenal defender Kolo Toure, showed superb control to take down a cross from Mikael Silvestre and drive a shot past Jens Lehmann from 12 metres.

Rooney also created the second goal for Park when he collected a Gary Neville pass and held off Freddie Ljungberg to cross for Park to side-foot the ball home from close-range 12 minutes from the end.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had left Thierry Henry on the bench until the 70th minute but despite being second-best for long spells Arsenal did have their chances.

Robin Van Persie forced Edwin van der Sar into a sharp save before the break and should then have equalised from a Emmanuel Eboue cross five minutes after Rooney had broken the deadlock.

United's win was celebrated by the majority of a crowd of 70,908, the biggest ever attendance at Old Trafford to watch United following further ground expansion which allowed the club to beat the previous best of 70,504 set in 1920.