Another Wayne Rooney double helped sweep Manchester United back to the Premier League summit with a 3-0 victory over Fulham at Old Trafford.
Although it wasted a huge number of chances, with Dimitar Berbatov the prime culprit, United did enough to re-establish its position on top of the table with eight games of the campaign remaining.
Rooney provided a suitably quickfire response after a goalless first half and then converted Berbatov's cross seven minutes from time to leave himself just 10 adrift of Cristiano Ronaldo's massive total of two years ago.
Berbatov himself then ended a frustrating afternoon by finally getting his name on the scoresheet.
On the occasion chosen to mark Old Trafford's 100th birthday, it was United needing to follow Chelsea and Arsenal, who after initial struggles, had each ended up with three points on Saturday.
On the face of it, a Fulham side in the middle of a titanic Europa League tie with Juventus would appear to be the perfect opponents.
Yet, as Ferguson pointed out in the build-up, Roy Hodgson has revolutionised life at Craven Cottage and masterminded a three-goal victory over United in December.
At the time, United was severely weakened by a loss of defenders. But with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic back in the fold those problems are now at an end. On this occasion, it was United's attack that misfired.
Following a frustrating opening period, it was all smiles at Old Trafford 29 seconds after the restart.
A scrappy build-up saw Berbatov nod the ball into his strike partner's path. Rooney then fed Nani before advancing into the big hole Fulham's disorientated defence had left.
Once Nani delivered the return pass back into exactly the same area, the outcome was inevitable.
And after creating yet another goal for Rooney with a neat cut-back in the closing stages, Berbatov finally located the target himself to complete a scoreline more in keeping with the one-sided nature of proceedings.
Meanwhile, local boy Adam Johnson returned to haunt Sunderland as Manchester City snatched a dramatic 1-1 draw on Wearside to maintain its Champions League hopes.
The substitute, who turned down a January move to the Stadium of Light to head for City instead, came off the bench to level in stoppage-time and finally ended the home side's stubborn resistance.
It was hard luck on Black Cats goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who pulled off five fine second-half saves, three of them from Newcastle old boy Craig Bellamy, to protect the lead given to his side by Kenwyne Jones' ninth-minute header.
Sunderland was within seconds of clinching back-to-back Premier League victories for the first time since December 2008, a run of 48 games.