Emmanuel Adebayor headed Arsenal in front shortly after restart but Cristiano Ronaldo drew United level from the spot.

A superb free-kick from Owen Hargreaves in the 72nd minute handed United all three points as the Red Devils march towards a second consecutive league title.

United are in charge of the table with 80 points, six clear of second-placed Chelsea, who entertain Wigan Athletic on Monday.

Arsenal lie third on 71st point and will most likely finish a third consecutive season without silverware.

Adebayor squandered a decent chance to put Arsenal in front after 18 minutes when he exchanged passes with Robin van Persie to go clear.

But the Togolese striker's shot was too weak to bother Edwin van der Saar, who easily collected the ball.

At the other hand, Wayne Rooney should have opened the scoring for United midway through the first half.

Patrice Evra released Ronaldo with a superb outside-of-the-foot pass before the Portuguese winger brilliantly flicked the ball over Alexandre Song.

Ronaldo fed the unmarked Rooney but the England striker's low shot went wide of the post.

In the 35th minute, Adebayor once again wasted a glorious opportunity to stun the home crowd.

Belarusian midfielder Alexander Hleb sidestepped Gerard Pique and provided a deft pass to the former Monaco striker, whose poor effort was handled by Van der Saar.

Adebayor finally broke the deadlock in the 48th minute when he headed home from close range after Van Persie's cross evaded Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Van der Saar.

United were awarded a penalty after Carrick's shot struck the arms of Willam Gallas. Ronaldo made no mistake from the spot to claim the equalizer.

Hargreaves sealed the victory in the 72nd minute with a brilliant curling free-kick that went over the wall and left Jens Lehmann motionless.