Grant's position is under further threat after a 3-0 defeat at home to Arsenal on Saturday that followed headlines suggesting Martin O'Neill is poised to take over at the bottom-of-the-table club.

Through it all, Israeli Grant is remaining steadfastly pragmatic as he said: "I had two choices, and chose to focus on the football.

"Of course rumours on the day of a game do not help, it does not matter where they came from.

"I still want to focus on the thing I can control, and this is the team.

"If we do the right thing, there will be a bright future here, and not just in the cup."

A brace from Robin van Persie that sandwiched a Theo Walcott strike condemned the Hammers to their latest defeat and ensured Arsenal remain in third, hot on the heels of the two Manchester clubs.

City moved into top spot for 24 hours, prior to United's goalless draw at Spurs yesterday, with a 4-3 victory over a Wolves side who threatened an astonishing comeback at Eastlands.

After Nenad Milijas gave Wolves the lead, City then scored four goals in 26 minutes either side of the break courtesy of a double from Carlos Tevez and one apiece for brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure.

But a Kevin Doyle penalty and a late effort from Ronald Zubar set up a nervy finish that has left City boss Roberto Mancini wondering about the strength of his heart for the remainder of the season.

"I only have one heart and I hope it is strong because with a squad like ours we should control the game better when we are three ahead," said Mancini.

"In the last 10 minutes we thought the game was finished and lost our concentration. This cannot happen."

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti's nerves were eased with a 2-0 win over Blackburn at Stamford Bridge that ended the club's worst run of results since 1996.

Courtesy of goals from Branislav Ivanovic and Nicolas Anelka, the Blues remain vaguely in the hunt for the title, trailing United by eight points.

Ancelotti said:"It's not easy to close the gap, but we have to think we are able to do this. I don't know if it's possible.

"Because we won last year, we want to do everything to be in the competition until the end."

Bolton manager Owen Coyle is determined to resurrect the flagging fortunes of his side after they suffered a fifth successive away loss, the latest a 2-0 defeat at Stoke where Danny Higginbotham and Matthew Etherington were on the scoresheet.

West Brom ended their own five-match losing run with a 3-2 victory over Blackpool at The Hawthorns, primarily due to a return to form from striker Peter Odemwingie as he scored twice.

Saturday's other game saw Wigan and Fulham share the spoils from a 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium where Andrew Johnson's deflected strike cancelled out Hugo Rodallega's opener.