Man United crush Villa with big wins elsewhere

Saturday Night Review

EPL senior writer and co-ordinator James Willoughby takes a look at the latest round of matches in the English Premier League.

A 2-0 win for Manchester United has bridged the gap between the Reds and Chelsea to just six points, with the table-toppers facing Arsenal in a mouth-watering counter tomorrow morning.

United were far too good for Villa on their own turf, with Park-Ji-Sung hitting the bar after just eleven minutes as Man United made a bright start. Ruud Van Nistelrooy opened the scoring just two minutes later when he made no mistake with a deft one-touch finish after a magnificent defence-splitting ball from Scottish midfielder Darren Fletcher.

Young gun Wayne Rooney doubled the lead with an emphatic low shot which crashed into the side netting after good build-up work from Park-Ji-Sung just five minutes into the second half.

Czech Republican striker Milan Baros was denied by the woodwork soon after, and it wasn't to be Villa's day as Gareth Barry saw his shot agonizingly roll past the post when he had beaten United goalkeeper Edwin Van De Sar.

In all 21 games Rooney has scored in, United have won with this statistic showing how much the former Evertonian impacts the side.

Birmingham City's patience with manager Steve Bruce is wearing thin as Brum were smashed 4-1 by Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium.

French defender David Sommeil opened the scoring after just 42 seconds with Sommeil joined on the first-half scoresheet by midfielder Joey Barton and striker Antoine Sibierski.

Bradley Wright Phillips added a fourth early in the second half but on-loan midfielder Jiri Jarosik pulled a late consolation for Birmingham but despite his goal, it was a dark day for Bruce and his men as they slipped to second last in the table.

At Goodison Park, Everton suffered an embarrassing home defeat as the Bolton Wanderers dismantled the Toffees on their way to a superb 4-0 victory.

Kevin Davies had given the Wanderers an early lead but the game seemed tight up until the 74th minute, before Bolton rifled in three goals in the space of six minutes with Gary Speed's penalty sandwiched in between a brace from Greek striker Stelios Giannokopolous.

Attention turned to Upton Park where another side scored four goals, this time it was Newcastle who defeated West Ham 4-2 thanks to a sensational hat-trick from Michael Owen.

Owen gave the Magpies the lead after just five minutes but an own goal from Newcastle's Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano equalised proceedings.

Goals from Alan Shearer and another from Owen gave the visitors a 3-1 lead and despite a penalty from Marlon Harewood, Owen rounded off a sensational day with the third of his goals in injury time to take the Magpies up to ninth on the table.

In other matches, Senegalese international Henri Camara plundered a hat-trick past a disappointing Charlton, as Wigan secured a comfortable 3-0 win.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp made a successful return to Fratton Park as Pompey defeated fellow strugglers West Brom 1-0.

Goals from Luis Boa Morte and Papa Bouba Diop helped Fulham earn a 2-1 home win over Blackburn to give Cottagers fan an early Christmas present.

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