United hammer Liverpool 4-0

LONDON: Two Ruud Van Nistelrooy penalties helped Manchester United to a 4-0 Premier League victory over Liverpool yesterday as Alex Ferguson’s football team set up a tantalising head-to-head with defending champions Arsenal in 11 days time.

Arsenal were held 1-1 by struggling Aston Villa at Villa Park thanks to an own goal by Kolo Toure after Fredrik Ljungberg had put the Gunners ahead. The results mean that the Gunners and the Reds are level on points with Arsenal ahead on goal difference. With Manchester United next in action against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final and Arsenal’s next match against Sheffield United in an FA Cup semi-final, the two teams don’t play in the Premier League until that big confrontation at Highbury April 16.

Arsenal and Manchester United both have 67 points with six matches to go and the Gunners have a superior goal difference of 33 compared with United’s 28. Van Nistelrooy gave United a fourth minute lead from the spot and added the second in the 64th before Giggs met a David Beckham right wing cross to prod home the third with 12 minutes to go. Norwegian striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added the fourth in injury time. Liverpool had to play the last 86 minutes with 10 men after having Finnish defender Sami Hyypia sent off for bringing down Van Nistelrooy. “We had a great start against Liverpool, 1-0 and against 10 men,” Ferguson said. “I thought we took the foot off the pedal a little. But in the second half I thought we were comfortable.

“You always want to kill off the match and I thought that did it.” The United manager said that the fact that his team did the Premier League double over Liverpool more than made up for a 2-0 loss in the League Cup final a month ago. Van Nistelrooy also said United’s highest-scoring victory for 50 years over one of their traditional rivals would add to the team’s confidence ahead of the game against the Spanish football giants. Michael Owen was out of the Liverpool lineup with the back injury he collected in England’s 2-0 Euro 2004 qualifying victory over Turkey while Beckham started off on the United bench because of a heavy cold. Roy Keane was back to captain United after injury.

Two weeks after firing Terry Venables and with Peter Reid in temporary charge, Leeds United romped to a 6-1 win at Charlton with Mark Viduka scoring three times and fellow Australian Harry Kewell netting twice. The result made a mockery of Leeds’ lowly position of 16th and Charlton’s seventh and came five days after Peter Ridsdale quit as chairman. “I’m really, really pleased but beside the victory which is the most important thing it’s the way the players went about it,” Reid said after his first victory as Leeds manager. Fourth place Chelsea hit back from a goal down at last place Sunderland to win 2-1 and strengthen their chances of gaining a Champions League place. Gianfranco Zola and Carlton Cole netted for the Blues who now are five points ahead of beaten Liverpool.

Middlesbrough scored a 3-0 victory over next to last West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham edged Birmingham City 2-1. Third from last Bolton outplayed neighbour Manchester City 2-0 for their third win in a row to further improve their chances of avoiding relegation. The result gave Bolton a four-point advantage over second from last West Ham who gained a 1-1 tie at Southampton thanks to a late equaliser from Jermaine Defoe. Sunderland, 19 points, and West Brom, 21, are virtually sure to go down and the Hammers look likely to join them. Today’s match  is Everton-Newcastle while tomorrow, it’s Fulham-Blackburn.