Premier League round-up

McLeish's men continue to demonstrate European credentials

Last updated: 16th December 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Premier League round-up

Rooney: Set United on their way

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Birmingham 2 Blackburn 1
Bolton 3 West Ham 1
Man Utd 3 Wolves 0
Sunderland 0 Villa 2

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Manchester United marked manager Sir Alex Ferguson's 900th league game in style as they moved level with Chelsea at the top of the table with a home victory over a much-changed Wolves side, while Aston Villa won at Sunderland to return to third.

In-form Birmingham climbed to fifth as Alex McLeish's side recorded a fifth successive league win by defeating Blackburn at St Andrews, and Bolton overcame fellow strugglers West Ham after a mistake from Robert Green at the Reebok Stadium helped the Trotters to move out of the relegation zone at Wolves' expense.

Ferguson was celebrating his 900th league game in charge of United and a 3-0 victory over Wolves provided the perfect marker to ensure the lead of Chelsea, who host Portsmouth on Wednesday, is based only on goal difference.

But Wolves boss Mick McCarthy also created a story as, seemingly with Saturday's game with Burnley in mind, he made 10 changes to the team which won at Tottenham at the weekend, with goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann the only survivor.

United had dominated the opening phases at Old Trafford, but they did not take the lead until the half-hour mark as Wayne Rooney converted a penalty after Ronald Zubar intentionally, and foolishly, handled a cross.

Wolves had battled hard prior to falling behind, but they were hit by an additional setback two minutes before half-time as Nemanja Vidic headed past Hahnemann from a Darron Gibson corner.

United's third came in the 66th minute as Dimitar Berbatov brilliantly set up Antonio Valencia with an overhead kick for a 10-yard finish to end any debate that he and his team-mates had recovered from their weekend defeat to Villa.

Martin O'Neill's Villa continue to look very well equipped to qualify for the UEFA Champions League after a 2-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, where the home side had captain Lorik Cana sent off in the second half.

England striker Emile Heskey opened the scoring in the 24th minute as the increasingly-impressive James Milner flicked a pass through the heart of the Sunderland defence for his team-mate to fire low past Marton Fulop.

Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel was required to demonstrate why he is regarded as one of the best in the league before half-time as he superbly stopped an Andy Reid shot.

It was harsh on Sunderland that they were not on level terms, but Steve Bruce's side continued to waste chances in the second half as Reid hit a volley wide after Darren Bent had done well to head on.

Milner then made the Black Cats pay as he added fuel to rumours that he could be an England starter at the World Cup with a superb goal from 25 yards on 61 minutes.

Things went from bad to worse for Bruce with 11 minutes remaining as Cana was sent off for a second booking.

McLeish has been keen to play down talk of European qualification this season but the Scot will have his work cut out after Birmingham's 2-1 win over Blackburn moved the Blues level on points with fifth-placed Tottenham.

Cameron Jerome took advantage of sleepy defending from Blackburn on 12 minutes as McLeish' No.10 knocked past Paul Robinson from close range after collecting the ball from a ricocheted Sebastian Larsson cross.

Birmingham thought they had a second on 20 minutes when Christian Benitez netted from Stephen Carr's pass, but the Ecuadorian's effort was ruled out due to a tight offside decision.

Carr had an excellent evening and delivered Jerome's second goal on a plate as he crossed for his team-mate to apply a simple finish three minutes after half-time.

Blackburn set up a nervy finish in England's Second City when Ryan Nelsen tapped in from close range after Pascal Chimbonda had turned a Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick across the face of goal in the 69th minute, but it was not enough.

Birmingham failed to make life more comfortable in the closing minutes as Benitez staggeringly hit the cross bar at an open goal, however the Blues hung on to record five successive Premier League wins for the first time in the club's history.

Gary Megson's Bolton again eased the pressure on their under-fire manager with what could prove to be a vital 3-1 win over West Ham at the Reebok Stadium.

Bolton, who drew 3-3 with Manchester City at the weekend, had the better of the first half and Kevin Davies could have scored in the opening seconds with a deflected effort from long range.

West Ham handed Kieron Dyer a first start in three months, but the injury-prone midfielder limped off with an apparent hamstring problem after 21 minutes.

The game came to life after the interval and Lee Chung-Yong broke the deadlock after 64 minutes following an excellent give-and-go with Ivan Klasnic.

But Gianfranco Zola's Hammers were level five minutes later as Alessandro Diamanti made no mistake when meeting Jack Collison's lay-off.

Bolton, though, regained the lead as England hopeful Green produced a horrible moment in the 77th minute as he fumbled a deflected Gary Cahill volley to give Klasnic a simple rebound.

Megson's men then wrapped up the points with two minutes remaining as Cahill headed substitute Ricardo Gardner's back-post corner.