LONDON – Dimitar Berbatov struck a hat-trick as Manchester United cemented their lead at the top of the Premier League table on Saturday with a 5-0 demolition of Birmingham. Berbatov took his goals tally for the season to 18 goals in all competitions as the Blues were brushed aside at Old Trafford in style, evergreen midfielder Ryan Giggs and Nani scoring the other goals for the Red Devils.
Arsenal kept pace with the league leaders after Robin Van Persie struck a hat-trick – and missed a penalty – to secure a 3-0 victory over 10-man Wigan at the Emirates. Van Persie’s hat-trick saw the Gunners leapfrog Manchester City into second place, two points off the lead. Manchester City will go level on points with United if they defeat Aston Villa in Saturday’s late kick-off. Fourth-placed Chelsea play Bolton on Monday.
Elsewhere Saturday, Tottenham scrambled a point at Newcastle after Aaron Lennon scored in injury time to equalise Fabricio Coloccini’s 59th-minute strike for the Magpies. The result saw Spurs hold on to 5th spot. In the early kick-off, Kenny Dalglish recorded his first win since returning as Liverpool manager as the Merseyside giants secured a 3-0 away victory at Wolves.
Two goals from Fernando Torres and a sensational Raul Meireles effort ensured a vital three points for Liverpool, who moved up to 10th after a dominant display at Molineux. The win was Liverpool’s first away from home since October, and only their second of the season. The result left Wolves one place off the bottom after West Ham were denied a vital win by Everton in an entertaining 2-2 draw at Goodison.
West Ham looked to have hauled themselves out of the relegation zone when Frederic Piquionne fired them 2-1 ahead on 84 minutes, after Everton’s Diniyar Bilyaletdinov had cancelled out Jonathan Spector’s first-half strike. But Marouane Fellaini snatched an injury-time equaliser to thwart West Ham, who now remain bottom.
At Bloomfield Road, Sunderland bounced back from this week’s disappointing loss of striker Darren Bent to Aston Villa to record a 2-1 win over Blackpool, Kieran Richardson bagging a brace of goals. Fulham meanwhile pulled themselves further away from the relegation dogfight with a 2-0 win over Stoke at Craven Cottage, American international midfielder Clint Dempsey scoring twice.
