Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson hailed the contribution of veteran goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar after the Barclays Premier League champions remained on top of the table with a 4-0 win at Bolton.
Jlloyd Samuel set the visitors on their way with an own goal seven minutes before the break and a Dimitar Berbatov brace and further strike from substitute Darron Gibson sealed the rout.
But it was Van der Sar who was singled out by Ferguson as the match-winner for his crucial first-half saves from Johan Elmander and then Fabrice Muamba.
He told ESPN: "They were absolutely magnificent saves. The second one in particular I think was a match-winning save."
Portugal winger Nani set up two of the United goals and he too impressed his boss.
"Nani's been playing like that for weeks now," he said. "He has hit form at a terrific time for us. He's made two goals.
"We're very pleased he's signed a new contract for another four years. He's young. He's maturing."
Ferguson claimed it had been a hard day's work for his team despite the comfortable-looking scoreline.
"The times we did get the ball down we did play some good football," he said. "I'd like to have seen more of it but it was a very difficult game."
The result saw United finish the day a point clear of Chelsea, who were 7-1 winners against Aston Villa this afternoon, and four ahead of Arsenal, who drew 1-1 at Birmingham.
"It was a bad one for Arsenal to drop points so late in the game," said Ferguson. "They're now four points behind us.
"I said yesterday we'll all drop points but the name of the game is to make sure you don't drop as many as the rest."
