Liverpool put their disappointing defeat at Leicester on Monday behind them to move up to third place in the Premier League with a 3-1 home win over Arsenal, who dropped to fifth.
Arsene Wenger raised eyebrows when he left Alexis Sanchez on the bench, starting Danny Welbeck, while Mesut Ozil missed the match through illness.
The change did nothing for the Londoners as Liverpool produced a dominant first-half performance to take total control by the break thanks to goals from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
Sanchez came on at the break and Arsenal pulled a goal back through Welbeck, but Georginio Wijnaldum finished a lightning counter-attack involving Adam Lallana late on.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a second-half penalty saved as Manchester United were held 1-1 by Bournemouth and missed the opportunity to move into fifth in a feisty game at Old Trafford.
United failed to take a host of chances but made the breakthrough after 23 minutes when Antonio Valencia's low strike was stabbed in by Marcos Rojo to secure a deserved lead.
Bournemouth's Andrew Surman clattered Luke Shaw to pick up a yellow card -- but on 38 minutes his side were level when Phil Jones fouled Marc Pugh to concede a penalty that was slammed home by Josh King.
An exciting first half had ended in controversy when Tyrone Mings slid in on Rooney and then stamped on Ibrahimovic, who elbowed the defender in the face at a corner seconds later.
Both avoided red cards from referee Kevin Friend, but instead a second yellow card was shown to Surman for what appeared to be a shove in the middle of a melee. United, though, were unable to make them pay as Artur Boruc thwarted Ibrahimovic.
Leicester City climbed further away from the relegation zone with a second home win in less than a week as they saw off Hull City 3-1 at the King Power Stadium.
The Premier League champions started well but missed a good chance when Marc Albrighton saw his effort scrambled off the line by Andrew Robertson, and they were made to pay after 14 minutes when Sam Clucas steered home a Kamil Grosicki cross.
But they levelled in style after 28 minutes when Christian Fuchs played a fine one-two with Jamie Vardy and finished neatly.
Hull came close to regaining the lead in the early stages of the second half when a Grosicki corner was steered against the outside of the post by Harry Maguire, but the champions went in front after 59 minutes when Riyad Mahrez jinked past two defenders and shot past Eldin Jakupovic, who could perhaps have done better.
And a second 3-1 win in a row was sealed when the ball went in off Hull's Tom Huddlestone from a corner with seconds remaining.
Southampton put their EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester United behind them with a 4-3 win in an action-packed game at Watford.
Watford raced out of the blocks and were in front after only four minutes when Troy Deeney curled the ball past Fraser Forster after a one-two with Stefano Okaka.
Southampton hit back after 28 minutes, levelling the scores through Dusan Tadic when the ball fell to him and he steered a low shot out of the reach of Heurelho Gomes, and went in front on half-time when Tadic and Nathan Redmond worked a one-two and Redmond struck.
Gomes kept Watford in it after the break, making a fine stop from a Maya Yoshida header, and it looked to have proved crucial when Isaac Success curled over a cross and Okaka converted to make it 2-2 with 11 minutes remaining.
But Manolo Gabbiadini put the visitors back in front with seven minutes to go when he cashed in on a Gomes fumble to tap in, and Redmond secured the points despite a late consolation from Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Swansea eased their relegation fears with a dramatic 3-2 victory at home to Burnley.
Swansea had the lead after 13 minutes in which they had dominated -- Alfie Mawson twice seeing efforts come back off the woodwork -- when Fernando Llorente headed home a cross from Leroy Fer.
But Burnley, still without an away league win this season, were level when the referee gave them a penalty for what appeared to be handball by their own player, Sam Vokes, and Andre Gray smashed the ball down the middle.
Gylfi Sigurdsson saw his shot fizz wide of the far post shortly before the break, but after 61 minutes the Welsh side were behind as Andre Gray latched on to a Vokes flick to finish.
Eight minutes later, Swansea were level as Martin Olsson ran on to a Sigurdsson flick and finished -- and they won it in stoppage time when Llorente struck again.
Crystal Palace continued their recent improvement as they won 2-0 at West Bromwich Albion.
Palace were indebted to Mamadou Sakho for a challenge that denied Salomon Rondon a tap-in after a neat move, but Sam Allardyce's side hit back and Chris Brunt had to be alert to nod a Christian Benteke effort off the line.
The visitors had produced a solid defensive display and capped it with a goal after 55 minutes when Yohan Cabaye found Wilfried Zaha, who chested the ball down and hammered it low into the corner.
With West Brom struggling to find any rhythm, the Londoners could have extended their advantage when Jason Puncheon's shot deflected just wide -- but they sealed the points with six minutes to go when Andros Townsend crowned a fine run with a calm finish.
Stoke sent Middlesbrough into the relegation zone with a comfortable 2-0 home win over Aitor Karanka's struggling side.
Stoke dominated the early stages against their shot-shy opponents and came close to breaking the deadlock when Ramadan Sobhi saw his effort cannon back off the crossbar.
With Boro creating little, Mark Hughes' side took the advantage their first-half play had merited after 29 minutes when Marco Arnautovic latched onto a Glenn Whelan pass.
Three minutes before half-time they established a comfortable cushion as Peter Crouch flicked on a corner and Arnautovic was the man in the right place once again.
Boro's Ben Gibson had a goal disallowed for offside after the break, but the visitors failed to ask Stoke many defensive questions and are sinking fast.