Barclays Premiership Review

There were no slip-ups from Manchester United or Chelsea as the three-point gap at the top of the Barclays Premiership remained intact.

MANCHESTER UNITED 3-0 EVERTON

Leaders United fielded a depleted line-up at home to Everton but ran out comfortable 3-0 winner thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, a first for the club from Patrice Evra and John O’Shea.

Playing alongside Wayne Rooney in attack, Ronaldo gave United the lead when he fired home on the rebound from 25 yards after Michael Carrick’s shot had been blocked by Nuno Valente.

Evra sealed the points after bursting on to a Rooney ball before blasting it through Richard Wright’s legs.

The France full-back then turned provider to put the ball on a plate for O’Shea to score with a neat flicked finish.

BOLTON WANDERERS 0-1 CHELSEA

Champions Chelsea maintained their impressive recent record at Bolton Wanderers with a 1-0 victory at the Reebok Stadium.

The Blues dominated the first half but had to wait until deep in to stoppage time to take the lead, Kevin Davies allowing Michael Ballack to get in front of him and head home Frank Lampard’s corner.

FULHAM 2-1 ARSENAL

Arsenal’s woes continued with a second straight defeat as they lost to London rivals Fulham for the first time in more than 40 years.

The Cottagers had earned just one point from 10 Premier League meetings with the Gunners so will savour their 2-1 success.

They took a sixth-minute lead when Jens Lehmann failed to get a strong enough hand to Brian McBride’s header from a Claus Jensen corner.

Tomas Radzinski doubled the home side’s advantage when he beat Mathieu Flamini to a Luis Boa Morte cross but a spectacular 30-yard free-kick from Robin van Persie got Arsenal back into the game nine minutes before the break.

Arsenal lost Philippe Senderos to a second yellow card after the restart.

ASTON VILLA 1-3 MANCHESTER CITY

Aston Villa were beaten at home for the first time under Martin O’Neill as bogey side Manchester City broke their away duck with a 3-1 win at Villa Park.

Stuart Pearce’s men had not tasted success on the road since winning on the same ground in April but former Villa striker Darius Vassell lashed in Micah Richards’ cross and Joey Barton swept home Georgios Samaras’ cutback to put them firmly in charge.

Villa finally awoke and Stiliyan Petrov’s free-kick was deemed not to have crossed the line after bouncing down off the crossbar.

A brilliant 25-yard drive from Gavin McCann cut the deficit with 25 minutes remaining but Sylvain Distin showed the touch and finish of a striker with a brilliant breakaway goal, his first for 19 months.

LIVERPOOL 0-0 PORTSMOUTH

In the night’s other game, Liverpool failed to score at Anfield for the first time this season after failing to break down a resolute Portsmouth, who move up to third.

Both sides were hit hard by injuries, but although the Reds dominated possession, they failed to force a significant save from Pompey keeper David James.

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