United trounce Magpies 6-2

LONDON: Manchester United shrugged off their Champions Cup flop against Real Madrid to score a 6-2 victory at third place Newcastle yesterday and move three points clear of Arsenal in the Premier Football League.

England midfielder Paul Scholes scored three times as the Reds handed the title-chasing Magpies a football lesson in front of their own fans at St James Park where Newcastle had won 14 of their 16 home matches and had been unbeaten since September. Newcastle’s neighbours, Sunderland, were relegated after four seasons in the top flight after losing 2-0 at Birmingham. French World Cup star Christophe Dugarry headed his first goal for the Blues who eased their own relegation worries.

After falling behind to a wonder goal by Jermaine Jenas, Alex Ferguson’s Reds romped to such a clear-cut triumph it all but wiped out Arsenal’s superiority in terms of scoring differential. United have 70 points from 33 matches and Arsenal 67 from 32. The Gunners still have the edge on goal difference with 33 to United’s 32. Fourth place Chelsea moved to within a point of Newcastle by edging third from last Bolton thanks to a Carlton Cole strike. Everton stayed fifth by coming from a goal down to win 2-1 at next to last West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool remained sixth by beating Fulham 2-0 with goals by England striker Emile Heskey and Michael Owen.

The Reds demolished Newcastle without England captain David Beckham who failed a fitness test on his injured hamstring. The midfield star hopes to be back when United takes on the Gunners at Highbury on Wednesday in what could be the title decider. Ferguson said that the loss to Madrid on Tuesday helped his team produce such a high quality performance against title contender Newcastle.

Defending champions Arsenal, who now have a match in hand, didn’t have a league match because they face Division One Sheffield United today in the semifinal of the FA Cup. The other semi-final is Southampton against Watford. With five matches to play, Sunderland has 19 points, West Brom 21, West Ham 32, Bolton 35 and Birmingham, Fulham, Aston Villa and Leeds 38. In yesterday’s other Premier League matches Blackburn edged Charlton 1-0 with a Damien Duff strike and Manchester City and Middlesbrough tied 0-0.