Wayne Rooney ended his 11-match goal drought as Manchester United climbed to the top of the Premier League for the first time in over two years with victory over Sunderland.
Manchester City's 4-1 lunchtime defeat at Tottenham opened the door for United to move to the summit and they grasped the opportunity, winning 3-0 at Old Trafford.
After a stubborn effort in the opening stages, Sunderland buckled in first-half injury time when Memphis Depay scored his first Premier League goal.
Rooney bundled home Anthony Martial's cross to end a barren run in the Premier League that had stretched to 999 minutes, before Juan Mata added a third at the death.
Louis van Gaal has had his doubters during his 14-month spell in charge, but United are now top of the table for the first time since beating Swansea 4-1 in David Moyes' first game in charge on Aug. 18, 2013.
United's stay at the top of the pile then, just like Moyes' tenure, was brief, but Van Gaal will be hoping his team can remain there for the rest of the season.
His old friend Dick Advocaat can only dream of climbing so high in the standings, with Sunderland bottom of the table after seven matches.
Advocaat made his intentions clear from the start, with Ola Toivonen coming in for Jermain Defoe and Sunderland lining up in a defensive 4-5-1 formation.
As has been the case for the majority of the season, United had plenty of possession but initially struggled to do anything with it.
Matteo Darmian and Antonio Valencia bombed down the left and right flanks respectively while Martial's trickery and strength caused the visitors problems, but Sunderland goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon saw little of the ball.
The only time Sunderland came under any real threat was when Pantilimon booted the ball up in the air and caught it outside the penalty area.
Luckily for the goalkeeper, he was spared a card and Mata drove the free-kick into the wall.
John O'Shea headed into David de Gea's arms and the Spaniard saved with his legs from Yann M'Vila during a rare promising spell for the visitors.
The home fans became anxious as Mata, Rooney, Martial and Michael Carrick were all guilty of wasteful passing in the final third.
But they had no need to worry. In the fourth minute of first-half injury time, Daley Blind found Mata, who squared for Depay to finish from close range.
Sunderland brought on Steven Fletcher for Adam Johnson, but 38 seconds into the second half they conceded again.
Martial bundled his way into the box and squared for Rooney. Lee Cattermole tried pushing the United captain out of the way, but the ball struck the striker's knee and went in.
The goal meant Rooney became United's joint third-highest league goal-scorer, moving alongside Denis Law.
De Gea saved at his near post from Toivonen and Patrick van Aanholt, but Sunderland never looked like getting back into the game.
Depay wasted a chance for a third but Mata fared better, driving home Ashley Young's cross in the final minute to spark chants of "We are top of the league" from the Stretford End.