By DPA
London : Manchester United have piled the pressure on English Premier League leaders Arsenal with a confident 4-1 win over Derby County, lifting them to within a point of the Gunners.
Ryan Giggs put United ahead with his 100th goal for the club Saturday and Carlos Tevez scored twice. Steven Howard pulled one back for Derby but a late penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo completed an easy win.
Chelsea remain two points behind United in third thanks to a stuttering 2-0 win over Sunderland, while Liverpool, a further four points back in fourth, slipped further behind in the title race with a 3-1 defeat away at Reading in the evening kick-off.
It took United 40 minutes to break down a battling Derby side at Old Trafford, side-footing home Ronaldo’s cross.
Tevez doubled the lead on the stroke of half time and the Argentina striker put the game beyond Derby with a third on the hour mark.
Steven Howard bundled in a goal for Derby but Ronaldo scored from the spot after he was fouled by Tyrone Mears to move closer to Arsenal, who are away to Middlesbrough on Sunday.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was pleased with the win but was particularly keen after the final whistle to pay tribute to Ryan Giggs.
“Not many players have scored 100 league goals but the service Ryan has given us, quite apart from the goals, is outstanding,” said Ferguson.
“Ryan is a great character, a great person and a fantastic servant to us all” added Ferguson.
Andriy Shevchenko celebrated a rare start for Chelsea with the opening goal against Sunderland but they struggled for fluency and needed a second-half penalty from Frank Lampard to seal the points.
Chelsea manager Avram Grant acknowledged the difficulty Sunderland posed his team, but was nevertheless satisfied with the result.
“It was not easy to play against Sunderland because they defended cleverly with a lot of men,” Grant said. “It was a very mature performance because we looked for opportunities to find the second goal which we got with the penalty.”
Liverpool’s unbeaten league record was ended after a shock 3-1 defeat at Reading. The home side were fortunate to take the lead through Stephen Hunt’s penalty early in the first half after Jamie Carragher brought down Brynjar Gunnarsson outside the penalty area.
Steven Gerrard equalised impressively for the away side midway through the first half as Liverpool began to take control of the match. But the slightest of touches by Kevin Doyle turned in Nicky Shorey’s free kick early in the second half and James Harper completed the victory shortly after with a breakaway goal.
Sulley Muntari scored two superb goals as Portsmouth won 3-1 at Aston Villa on Saturday to move up to fifth thanks to their sixth consecutive away win in the league.
An own goal from Craig Gardner gave Portsmouth a fortuitous lead after just 10 minutes.
Villa should have equalised and gone ahead but Martin Laursen missed two easy chances with his head and Portsmouth rubbed salt into their wounds with a second goal as Muntari curled a brilliant shot beyond Scott Carson five minutes before half-time.
Villa pressed hard at the start of the second half and David James made a couple of vital saves before Muntari bent a superb strike for Portsmouth’s third.
Gareth Barry scored from the penalty spot with 18 minutes to go and Gabriel Agbonlahor headed onto the crossbar in the 90th minute but Portsmouth hung on to move into fifth place with 30 points, behind Liverpool on goal difference.
Yakubu scored a hat-trick for Everton as they beat Fulham 3-0 in the day’s other match to lift them above Villa into seventh. And Newcastle earned a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Birmingham, Habib Beye heading the late winner to seal a good week for Sam Allardyce’s men after their midweek draw with Arsenal.