Manchester U 2 Sunderland 0
Newcastle 1 Manchester C 3
Aston Villa 1 Tottenham 2
Bolton 2 West Brom 0
Blackburn 0 Stoke 2
Fulham 1 West Ham 3
Wolves 1 Wigan 2
Gareth Barry slid the ball home after just 70 seconds and there were only five minutes on the clock when James Milner's low cross was turned in by Carlos Tevez to make it 2-0.
But Newcastle got back in it with 20 minutes left when Andy Carroll ghosted through the area to head home Joey Barton's corner.
But Tevez settled City nerves when his close-range shot deflected in off Fabricio Coloccini with 10 minutes left.
Dimitar Berbatov's double saw Manchester United stay two points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League with victory over Sunderland.
Berbatov took advantage of some slack Sunderland defending to open the scoring only five minutes in, and the Bulgarian continued to cause problems for the Black Cats, smashing a shot off the post shortly after.
United passed up several chances to add to their lead before the break, but eventually found a somewhat fortunate second when Berbatov's wayward shot went in off Anton Ferdinand just before the hour mark.
Talismanic midfielder Rafael van der Vaart struck twice as 10-man Tottenham claimed a 2-1 victory at Aston Villa to stay in touch with the top four.
Despite the 27th-minute straight red card for Jermain Defoe, the Dutchman scored either side of that to take his tally to double figures for the season, with Spurs unbeaten in each of the eight games in which he has scored.
Although Marc Albrighton pulled one back for Villa eight minutes from time, it was not enough to spare the home side, with Harry Redknapp now unbeaten in his past 10 Premier League games as a manager against the midlands club.
Fifth-placed Tottenham are now one point behind Chelsea, who visit third-place Arsenal on Monday night.
Down at the other end of the table, two first-half goals gave Wigan a crucial 2-1 win over Wolves at Molineux.
Hugo Rodallega's close-range volley put them in front after nine minutes, and on-loan Tom Cleverley doubled the advantage midway through the first half, latching on to a through-ball to smash a shot through the goalkeeper's legs.
Wolves got a goal back through Steven Fletcher with three minutes remaining, but had left it too late.
Bolton are up to sixth after seeing off West Brom 2-0.
Matthew Taylor got the opener five minutes before the break, finishing from close range after good work from Lee Chung-yong, who rounded the goalkeeper and then pulled the ball back.
Johan Elmander then made sure of the points four minutes from time.
Stoke leapfrogged Newcastle to go eighth with a 2-0 win over Blackburn at Ewood Park.
After a dismal first half, Robert Huth headed Stoke into a 51st-minute lead, meeting Matthew Etherington's corner at the near post.
Marc Wilson then wrapped up the points with a last-minute strike.
In the early game, West Ham gave their survival hopes a boost at the expense of Fulham's as they came from behind to win 3-1 at Craven Cottage.
Aaron Hughes' first Fulham goal put the hosts in front, but Carlton Cole levelled before Frederic Piquionne put the Hammers ahead on the stroke of half-time.
Cole's second wrapped up the points that hauled the Hammers off the foot of the table.