United retain top spot

Manchester United hung on to top spot in the Premier League with late goals from Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo sealing a 2-0 victory at Reading on Saturday.

United failed to put any daylight between themselves and Arsenal, however, with Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor scoring twice as the Gunners returned to form with a 3-0 rout of Fulham at Craven Cottage.



Third-placed Chelsea rode their luck to beat Birmingham City 1-0 away thanks to Claudio Pizarro's late header. They stay four points behind the top two who have 54 points from 23 matches.

There is a yawning gap to fourth-placed Liverpool who are facing a stiff battle for fourth spot with Everton, Aston Villa and Manchester City. All four clubs are on 39 points.

Liverpool, who have only played 21 matches, are at Villa on Monday, while Everton travel to Wigan Athletic on Sunday when Manchester City host West Ham United.

While the top three all won, the bottom three all lost. Fulham's defeat makes them increasingly likely to join Derby County through the relegation trapdoor.

Bottom club Derby took the lead at Portsmouth before a Benjani Mwaruwari hat-trick ended a nine-hour goal famine for Pompey at home to seal a 3-1 win.

Sunderland stayed in the bottom three after a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur, for whom Robbie Keane scored his 100th goal. Middlesbrough drew 1-1 at Blackburn Rovers.

United were stifled by Reading on the opening day of the season when they drew 0-0 at Old Trafford and goals were at a premium again, although there was no lack of chances.

The country's top scorer Ronaldo wasted several chances for United while Reading also had opportunities, the best of which fell to Dave Kitson who lobbed wide when through on goal.

With 15 minutes remaining, Rooney broke the deadlock, producing a cool finish after an instinctive pass by Carlos Tevez. Ronaldo broke away in stoppage time to take his league tally to 17.

"We kept making chances but you start to worry if you are going to get the goal," United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports News. "We got the goal at the right time and hung on."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was a happy man after his side clicked into top gear against Fulham having dropped points against Birmingham in their last league game.



Two textbook headers from Adebayor and a Tomas Rosicky volley underlined their superiority and gave Wenger an afternoon free of worry.

"This was a very strong response to our last game and shows that this team is up for it," Wenger told the BBC. "There was still more in the locker if we needed it."

Nicolas Anelka was given his first start for Chelsea since arriving from Bolton Wanderers in a £15 million deal but it was Pizarro who earned the Londoners a gritty victory with his first league goal since the opening day, also against Birmingham.

Despite not playing well, Chelsea, without the likes of Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Michael Essien, are still very much in the title race.

"At this stage of the season it was very important to win. We knew it would be a very difficult game because they drew against Arsenal last week," manager Avram Grant told the BBC.



Kevin Keegan began his second stint as Newcastle United's manager with a late kickoff at home to Bolton Wanderers.