English round-up: Manchester United beat Stoke to go 20 unbeaten

Manchester United's unbeaten fight for the Premier League title reached 20 matches at Old Trafford as Javier Hernandez and Nani scored the goals that beat Stoke 2-1.

Hernandez put the hosts ahead with an impudent first-half back-flick, his ninth goal of the season.

But, after Dean Whitehead had nodded home a shock equaliser for Stoke at the start of the second half, Nani restored the hosts' lead with a precise curling strike that took United's tally to 19 points out of the last 21 and opened up a lead of three points over Manchester City and five on Arsenal ahead of their meeting at the Emirates Stadium tonight.

Scott Dann's last-gasp strike at Blackpool earned Birmingham their first away win of the season and moved them out of the relegation zone.

Alexander Hleb pounced on a mistake by former Celtic player Stephen Crainey to put Blues ahead in the first half before DJ Campbell's 68th-minute equaliser. Alex McLeish's side then sealed a 2-1 victory thanks to Dann's close-range effort with a minute of normal time remaining.

Fulham also climbed out of the bottom three as Scott Carson made another high-profile mistake as West Brom crashed 3-0 at Craven Cottage.

Carson, whose blunder against Croatia contributed to England failing to qualify for Euro 2008, got both hands to Simon Davies' 30-yard drive on the brink of half-time but could only deflect the ball into his own net. After the break Fulham cruised to a first home win in six attempts with headed goals from Clint Dempsey and Brede Hangeland. It meant Fulham climbed above West Brom into 13th place to relieve some of the pressure on manager Mark Hughes.