United power on as Gunners draw blank

LONDON: Manchester United beat old boy Roy Keane's Sunderland for the second time this season to take top spot in the Premier League after Arsenal were held to a drab 0-0 draw at Portsmouth.

A double from Louis Saha and one apiece for Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo allowed United to stroll to a 4-0 win at the Stadium of Light that sent Sir Alex Ferguson's men above Arsenal with a one-point lead.

"It was an excellent performance, I thought the passing and movement was excellent," said Fergsuon.

"The first goal put us in the driving seat because we knew Sunderland were going through a bit of a sticky patch."

The champions also have a seven-point advantage over Chelsea, who were held to a 4-4 draw at home by Aston Villa in a Boxing Day thriller that had three red cards, two penalties and an injury-time equalizer.

Liverpool needed a last-minute winner from captain Steven Gerrard to claim a 2-1 win over bottom side Derby that lifts them back into fourth place, a point behind Chelsea but having played a game less.

Derby had looked set to claim at least a point after Jay McEveley had canceled out Fernando Torres' first-half goal.

Everton returned to winning ways following Sunday's loss at Old Trafford with a 2-0 win at home to Bolton, Phil Neville and Tim Cahill getting the goals.

The match of the day came at Stamford Bridge, where Shaun Maloney's double gave Villa a two-goal lead with barely quarter of an hour gone.

The visitors had defender Zat Knight sent off in first-half stoppage time and two goals from Andriy Shevchenko, the first from the spot, had Chelsea level within five minutes of the restart.

Brazilian center-half Alex then put Chelsea ahead only for Denmark center-half Martin Laursen to volley in an equalizer.

Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho was sent off for a two-footed tackle on Gabriel Agbonlahor before a Michael Ballack free kick in the 88th minute appeared to have secured the three points.

But there was still time for another twist.

In stoppage time, Ashley Cole was sent off for a handball on the line and Villa captain Gareth Barry equalized from the resulting penalty.

Chelsea boss Avram Grant refused to condemn Carvalho.

"For me what's important is that Carvalho did not intend to hurt the player - I didn't see any intention," said the Chelsea coach.

"It was the decision of the referee and I respect it. I will look at the incident again."

Arsenal failed to score for the first time this season when they could only draw 0-0 with Portsmouth. Czech international Tomas Rosicky could have won it for Arsene Wenger's team but he screwed a close-range shot wide of the target in the closing moments.

Elsewhere, the Tottenham revival under Juande Ramos gathered pace with a 5-1 thrashing of Fulham at White Hart Lane, in which Robbie Keane claimed his 99th and 100th Premiership goals.

Tom Huddlestone also scored a double with Jermain Defoe completing the rout on a day when Spurs fans were also able to cheer club captain Ledley King's first appearance of the season.

American international Clint Dempsey notched the only goal for Fulham, who finished with ten men after the late dismissal of Moritz Volz.

Ramos revealed he has ordered some of his players to lose weight, including Huddlestone.

"We are happy that the team has players that have slimmed down - they are obviously a lot lighter now," said Ramos. "The team appreciates this because we needed this to happen."

Wigan took advantage of Fulham's loss to escape from the relegation zone by beating Newcastle 1-0 at the JJB Stadium, Ryan Taylor scoring the only goal midway through the second half.

Birmingham claimed a precious 3-0 win over fellow strugglers Middlesbrough. A Stewart Downing own goal and a Mikael Forssell strike put Alex McLeish's side in control by the break and Gary McSheffrey completed the win with a stoppage-time penalty.

Ten-man Reading secured a battling 1-1 draw at West Ham courtesy of Dave Kitson's well-taken second-half equalizer.

Steve Coppell's side had looked in trouble when Nolberto Solano gave West Ham the lead after Brynjar Gunnarsson's red card for a two-footed tackle.

AFP

(China Daily 12/28/2007 page23)