AP
Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo (centre) celebrates with Michael Carrick (left) and Rio Ferdinand after scoring his team's first goal during its Premier League match against Aston Villa at Old Trafford yesterday. United stayed at the top of the standings with the 4-0 victory.
LONDON (AP):
WAYNE ROONEY scored twice and Manchester United outplayed Aston Villa 4-0 yesterday to move six points clear in the Barclays Premier League title race, while Arsenal rallied from two goals and a man down to win 3-2 at Bolton.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 34th goal of the season to put the Red Devils on the road to an easy victory at Old Trafford and Carlos Tevez added a second in the 33rd minute. Rooney's brace in the 53rd and 70th minutes means that Alex Ferguson's team has a huge goals differential of 53, having scored 68 and conceded only 15.
After Matt Taylor had scored twice for relegation-threatened Bolton at Reebok Stadium and Abou Diaby had been shown a 31st-minute red card for a foul on Gretar Steinsson, the Gunners looked likely to fall further behind leader Manchester United, who now have 76 points from 32 games with six more rounds to play.
Own-goal
But William Gallas replied in the 62nd minute, Robin van Persie equalised with a 68th-minute penalty after Gary Cahill had brought down Alexander Hleb, and an own-goal by defender JLloyd Samuel in the final minute gave Arsenal the three points.
With 70 points from 32 games, the Gunners regain second spot from Chelsea, who have 68 from 31 and host Middlesbrough today.
"We didn't give up. It was a mental test - 2-0 down and 10 against 11 with half an hour to go," Wenger said. "We knew that 2-2 wasn't good enough, we wanted it to be a win to stay in the race. Only three points was good enough."
Today's other games are Liverpool-Everton and Tottenham-Newcastle.
Last-place Derby County were guaranteed relegation after a 2-2 draw at home to next-to-last Fulham. In yesterday's other matches, Birmingham beat Manchester City 3-1, Portsmouth downed Wigan 2-0, Reading and Blackburn drew 0-0 and Sunderland edged West Ham 2-1.
Arsenal had lost in their past three visits at the Reebok Stadium and went into the game on a Premier League run of four draws and last weekend's 2-1 loss to Chelsea. When Bolton took control, it looked as if the Gunners would go six games without a league win for the first time since Wenger arrived in September 1996.
Taylor headed home Steinsson's cross in the 14th minute and Diaby was sent off in the first half for diving into the Icelandic midfielder with studs landing on his ankle.
Taylor made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute with a deflected shot but the Gunners hit back in the second half.
Gallas turned home a corner from Van Persie and the Dutch winger made it 2-2 from the spot. A cross from Hleb in the final minute took two deflections, the second off Samuel into the Bolton net.
Derby's draw with Fulham gave them only 11 points from 32 games and that meant relegation because 17th place Birmingham beat Manchester City 3-1.
Emmanuel Villa gave the Rams a 10th-minute lead and, although Diomansy Kamara and Dean Leacock's own-goal handed Fulham the advantage, the Mexican striker made it 2-2 in the 80th minute.
Argentine midfielder Maura Zarate scored twice as Birmingham improved their survival chances by beating Manchester City at St. Andrew's. Although City's Brazilian star Elano replied with a penalty, Gary McSheffrey's 77th-minute spot kick made sure of the points for the home side.
Birmingham now have 30 points, four more than Bolton and six more than Fulham.
Jermain Defoe scored twice as Portsmouth beat Wigan at Fratton Park and Sunderland hit back after conceding Fredrik Ljungberg's goal for West Ham with strikes by Kenwyne Jones and Andy Reid.
STANDINGS
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Man. United | 32 | 24 | 4 | 4 | 68 | 15 | 76 |
| Arsenal | 32 | 20 | 10 | 2 | 62 | 26 | 70 |
| Chelsea | 31 | 20 | 8 | 3 | 55 | 23 | 68 |
| Liverpool | 31 | 16 | 11 | 4 | 55 | 24 | 59 |
| Everton | 31 | 17 | 6 | 8 | 48 | 26 | 57 |
| Portsmouth | 32 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 46 | 33 | 53 |
| Blackburn | 32 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 42 | 38 | 50 |
| Aston Villa | 32 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 52 | 44 | 49 |
| Man. City | 32 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 37 | 37 | 49 |
| West Ham | 32 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 35 | 39 | 44 |
| Tottenham | 31 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 60 | 51 | 39 |
| M'brough | 31 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 28 | 44 | 34 |
| Sunderland | 32 | 9 | 6 | 17 | 29 | 49 | 33 |
| Reading | 32 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 37 | 58 | 32 |
| Newcastle | 31 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 33 | 57 | 32 |
| Wigan | 32 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 28 | 47 | 31 |
| Birmingham | 32 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 38 | 49 | 30 |
| Bolton | 32 | 6 | 8 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 26 |
| Fulham | 32 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 29 | 53 | 24 |
| r-Derby | 32 | 1 | 8 | 23 | 16 | 67 | 11 |
|
r-relegated
