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Manchester United take stranglehold on title race

Other News Materials 31 January 2009 23:36 (UTC +04:00)

Champions Manchester United took a stranglehold on the title race after they beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday to move five points clear at the top of the English Premier League table, dpa reported.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot just before half-time after a foul on Michael Carrick, lifting them further clear of the chasing pack.

Chelsea and Liverpool, level on points with Aston Villa in third and fourth, meet at Anfield on Sunday.

Villa and fifth-placed Arsenal lost ground after they were held to goalless draws at home, while at the other end of the table, 10-man Stoke City beat Manchester City 1-0 to move out of the bottom three.

At Old Trafford, United dominated possession but found Everton typically doughty in defence.

Ronaldo was unlucky to see a stabbed effort rebound off the Everton post, but the two sides looked to be heading for half-time on level terms until Mikel Arteta stuck out a leg in the penalty area and brought down Michael Carrick.

Ronaldo stepped up and fired the ball past Tim Howard.

United again had the better of the second half but created few clearcut chances. In the end, they settled for a narrow win, their seventh consecutive Premier League triumph.

The clean sheet meant that goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar set a new league record of minutes without conceding a goal, passing Steve Death's previous record of 1,103 minutes, set in 1979.

At Villa Park, the home side dominated possession throughout, with substitute John Carew having a fierce effort cleared off the line by Paul Scharner.

But Wigan held on for a point that leaves Villa still fourth, level on points with Chelsea and Liverpool, having played a game more.

Arsenal, too, had the bulk of possession against West Ham, with James Collins heading off the line from Kolo Toure and Abou Diaby having a header deflected off the bar.

Arsene Wenger brought Robin van Persie off the bench in a bid for victory, but they could not break down a stout West Ham defence.

"We gave everything for 90 minutes and restricted them to nothing," the Arsenal manager said.

"There was a great desire and I could not fault the spirit, but we did lack some creativity in the final ball and some sharpness because we had played a difficult game on Wednesday night at Everton."

James Beattie headed the only goal of the game in the fifth minute of first-half injury time to give 10-man Stoke a 1-0 win over Manchester City.

Manchester City were given a one-man advantage when Rory Delap was sent off on 38 minutes for a foul on Shaun Wright-Phillips and then kicking the ball at the winger from point-blank range.

Wright-Phillips was lucky not to get at least a yellow card for a retaliatory kick out at Delap, but Stoke scored against the run of play right on the half-time whistle when Beattie scored a fine header at the far post.

Manchester City failed to make use of the advantage in the second half, though, and Stoke held on for what could prove to be a crucial victory.

"We work hard on our defending," a delighted Stoke City manager Tony Pulis said. "We do a tremendous amount of work with our defensive eight against 11 in training, because we know we will constantly be up against it against very, very good teams.

"I tell them, it's life, this is what you are going to have to do. You have to stick in there when we are put under pressure like that by very good players."

West Brom remain bottom on goal difference despite coming back to force a 2-2 draw at Hull City, while Middlesbrough and Blackburn, the other two sides in the relegation zone, drew 0-0 at the Riverside.

Fulham moved up to ninth after a 3-1 win over Portsmouth, while Darren Bent scored twice for Tottenham, only to see his side go down 3-2 at Bolton Wanderers.

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