Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 on Saturday to move level with Premier League leaders Chelsea, while Radamel Falco earned Manchester United a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. City were missing Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic due to injury, but they secured an eighth consecutive win in all competitions thanks to David Silva's second-half brace and a late Yaya Toure strike.
Victory left City level on 39 points with Chelsea, who remain top by virtue of a superior goal difference (+23 to +22) ahead of their trip to Stoke City on Monday.
"It was a very good win. A very good performance. I enjoyed the way the team worked the whole week - to work in a different way without strikers," said City manager Manuel Pellegrini.
United spurned a chance to close on Chelsea after dropping points for the first time in seven matches at Villa, who had Gabriel Agbonlahor sent off in the 65th minute for a foul on former team-mate Ashley Young.
The draw ended United's run of six straight wins and left Louis van Gaal's side seven points off the pace in third place, while West Ham United, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur all closed on them.
At the Etihad Stadium, City started with James Milner as an auxiliary striker and after growing into the game, the champions went ahead four minutes into the second half.
From Fernandinho's pass, Pablo Zabaleta scuttled into the area before cutting the ball back for Silva, who beat Julian Speroni with the aid of a deflection off Scott Dann.
Christian Benteke put Villa 1-0 up in the 18th minute at home against United by chesting down a deep free-kick, stepping inside Jonny Evans and curling a fine left-foot shot inside the left-hand post.
Fourth-place West Ham are now just a point behind United after beating bottom club Leicester City 2-0 at Upton Park.
Southampton are two points further back after ending a five-game losing streak by beating Everton 3-0 thanks to a Romelu Lukaku own goal and second-half efforts from Graziano Pelle and Maya Yoshida.
Tottenham leapfrogged Arsenal, who host Liverpool on Sunday, by beating Burnley 2-1.
Charlie Austin took his tally for the season to 11 goals with a hat-trick as Queens Park Rangers came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion, who scored through Joleon Lescott and Silvestre Varela.
The win took QPR out of the relegation zone, but Hull City remain in the bottom three after Jonjo Shelvey's shot deflected in off Ki Sung-yueng to earn Swansea City a 1-0 victory at the KC Stadium.
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