Manchester United rattled in three goals in 10 minutes either side of halftime to set up a 4-0 victory at Tottenham Hotspur and restore their six-point lead over Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.

A Cristiano Ronaldo penalty at the end of the first half, goals by Nemanja Vidic and Paul Scholes soon after and a 77th minute Ryan Giggs effort completed a comfortable win.

The victory takes United to 63 points, six clear of Chelsea, who won 1-0 at Charlton Athletic on Saturday. Liverpool are third on 50 after they were held to a goalless home draw by Everton with Arsenal fourth on 46 following their 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough.

Tottenham, who have not beaten United home or away for 12 games and have now lost six in a row against them at home, remain 11th on 33 points.

United struggled to make any inroads in a low-key first half but got the breakthrough in the 45th minute.

Ronaldo went down under a challenge from Steed Malbranque and though the French midfielder claimed innocence, the referee awarded the penalty. Ronaldo took it and scored confidently for his 10th goal in the last 10 league games.

United doubled the lead three minutes after the restart when Vidic made a determined run to meet a corner by former Spurs midfielder Michael Carrick and scored with a firm glancing header.

Six minutes later Ronaldo moved effortlessly past Lee Young-pyo to hit the byline before crossing low for the impressive Scholes to bundle the ball in from point-blank range.

Tottenham were shell-shocked but did manage a couple of half-chances that both fell to Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian hit the first straight at Edwin van der Sar and headed the second over the bar.

United then raced to the other end and substitute Louis Saha fed Giggs, who beat the offside trap and fired home the fourth.

United lost Van der Sar to a broken nose after being caught by Robbie Keane's knee but even with defender John O'Shea as stand-in goalkeeper for the last 10 minutes Tottenham could not trouble them.

"I thought our pace was too slow and we didn't play with proper width. I was glad to get in one-up and we made the point to use the width better in the second half," Ferguson told Sky Sports.

"I thought we did that and got off to a really good start with purpose and speed playing the way we normally play.

"It's an exceptional scoreline, I thought in fairness to Tottenham they had a lot of chances in the second half...once we got in front we got careless and casual at the back...but no goals against going towards the title is going to be very important for us."

Ferguson said that Wayne Rooney sustained a slight injury and could be doubtful for England's home friendly with Spain on Wednesday while Van der Sar's broken nose will probably keep him out of the Netherlands's home friendly with Russia.