Second-half goals from Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo keep Manchester United at the top of the table
LONDON: Wins for Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea left the top of the English Premier League unchanged.
Champions United grabbed a hard-fought 2-0 win at Reading with two late goals from Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday while Arsenal’s comfortable 3-0 win at struggling Fulham kept up their chase for the title.
Arsenal sit behind United on goal difference, with both teams level on 54 points. Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Birmingham keeps them four points behind the leaders on 50 points and puts them 11 points clear of Liverpool, who play on Monday, in fourth place.
In an entertaining and competitive game at the Madejski stadium, both Reading and Manchester Utd had chances to open the scoring before Wayne Rooney slotted the ball into the net after good work by Carlos Tevez in the 75th minute.
As the home side pushed for a late equaliser, United hit their opponents on the break with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring yet again to seal the points.
Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, was happy with his team’s performance, particularly after the points that were dropped in last week’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham City.
“We gave a strong response to our result last week and it will be a big lift for us,” Wenger said. “I believe that we were in control of the game for the whole 90 minutes. We scored early and we played well.”
Discussing the closeness of the race for the title this season, Wenger claimed that he was enjoying the challenge. “It’s interesting, it’s exciting and that promises a very interesting end of the season,” added the Arsenal manager.
Arsene Wenger believes Emmanuel Adebayor’s absence from the African Nations Cup will help Arsenal stay in the thick of the Premier League title race after the Togo striker destroyed Fulham. Adebayor took his season’s tally to 15 with a brace of identical headers as the Gunners cruised to a 3-0 victory at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Chelsea’s excellent form continued with a tight 1-0 away win over Birmingham City.
