Manchester United strengthened their grip at the top of the league with a 3-0 defeat of Liverpool.
Wes Brown had headed United ahead after 34 minutes before Liverpool were reduced to 10 men when Javier Mascherano, booked earlier, was sent off for dissent just before half-time.
Liverpool fought gamely after the break but Cristiano Ronaldo and then Nani inflicted deeper wounds.
The tension in this 150th league meeting between England's two most successful clubs was palpable, cutting through the cold that had seen snow fall in Manchester overnight.
And the opening tackles were just as sharp. Scholes went in on Xabi Alonso and Ferdinand on Fernando Torres before Javier Mascherano went too far and was booked for cutting down Scholes.
In the midst of it all Wayne Rooney could have scored twice. First he got behind Jamie Carragher, whose tackle could easily have produced a penalty had the former Everton man gone down.
Instead Rooney kept his feet and forced Jose Reina into a save with his legs.
Then Scholes' lofted pass fell behind the Liverpool defence and Reina scooped the ball away from Rooney's rush into the box.
dangerous positions
The nearest Liverpool came to scoring was a run and shot from Fabio Aurelio on the left that soared past the far post.
Another ball pumped over Jamie Carragher's head for the fleet-footed Rooney forced Reina to rush out of his box to chest the ball down before belting it into touch.
Liverpool were playing this like a European match, deep defence, as if they were practising for what may follow later this season in the Champions League.
United, though, were proving to be nowhere near as pedestrian as Inter Milan were.
The Liverpool tactic was conceding the ball to United in dangerous positions, and from one set-piece the ball again cleared Liverpool's back-line for Ronaldo to see a shot hit the foot of a post.
Gerrard, who had looked strangely subdued, finally burst into action after 27 minutes, taking a knock-down from Dirk Kuyt and seeing a right-footer deflected inches over.
But United were soon back on the attack, and after 33 minutes Reina only stopped a Giggs effort, and was forced to claw it back from under the bar.
But Liverpool were not to survive much longer. Scholes swept the ball out to Rooney on the left after 34 minutes, and when his curling cross arrived in the box, the unlikely figure of Wes Brown was there to reach it before Reina head into the net.
improbable save
It was Brown's first of the season and only the third of his career, and it gave United a deserved lead.
Ryan Babel wasted a good opportunity after skinning Brown, and then Alvaro Arbeloa lifted a 12-yarder aimlessly over the top.
Anderson was everywhere, a consistent destructive force right through Liverpool's midfield. Torres was booked for dissent, and Mascherano joined in. Referee Steve Bennett, having already booked the Argentinian, produced another yellow and then red.
For the second half, Gerrard was pushed back into Mascherano's holding role. But it took a point-blank save from Reina to stop a Ronaldo effort a minute after the break.
Reina then produced another improbable save from Rooney, six yards out, Arbeloa becoming the next Liverpool man in the book for tugging back Anderson. Ferdinand was next to be cautioned for a foul on Torres from behind.
Liverpool still had a slim chance, and sent on Yossi Benayoun after 66 minutes for the ineffective Babel. Torres then missed a decent chance, unmarked on the far post, when a Gerrard free-kick reached him.
United sent on Carlos Tevez and Nani for Giggs and Anderson after 73 minutes, and it took another wonder save from Reina stopped Tevez close in.
United, though, were in no mood to let Liverpool escape. After 79 minutes Ronaldo headed home a Nani corner and two minutes later Nani created space for himself on the edge of the box to blast in the third.
