Manchester United beat Manchester City 3-1 on Saturday to move nine points ahead of defending champion Chelsea in the Premier League.
Goals by Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha gave the Red Devils a 2-0 halftime lead in the neighbors' 146th meeting. Although Hatem Trabelsi scored for City in the 72nd, Cristiano Ronaldo completed the scoring with six minutes to go.
United's 14th victory this season left it with 44 points from 17 games while Chelsea, which hosted Arsenal yesterday, had 35 from 15.
PHOTO: AP
"I will be supporting the Gunners for a change," said United manager Alex Ferguson, who has had a fierce rivalry with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
Rooney gave United a sixth-minute lead at Old Trafford when he got away from City captain Richard Dunne to meet a cross from Cristiano Ronaldo and score from close range.
Dunne was at fault again as United went 2-0 ahead in the final minute of the first half. He lost the ball to a combination of Rooney and Gabriel Heinze on the edge of his own area and a cross by the Argentina defender found Saha, who prodded the ball in from in front of goal off the underside of the crossbar.
City goalkeeper Nicky Weaver was injured trying to stop Saha's goal and Andreas Isaksson took over in the second half for his first appearance since his joining from Rennes in August.
United lost momentum after the break and City hit back with a goal 18 minutes from the end when Trabelsi scored with a 20m shot.
United regained impetus and scored a third in the 84th when Rooney's shot deflected off Dunne to Ronaldo, who scored from close range with a right-foot volley.
City finished the game with 10 players after striker Bernardo Corradi was shown a second yellow card in injury time for diving inside the United area.
City manager Stuart Pearce said he'd no complaints and that he would be talking to Corradi about it.
Portsmouth's won 2-0 at home against Everton. Matthew Taylor put Portsmouth ahead in the 14th minute with a 45m lob after he spotted Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard off his line. Nwankwo Kanu added the second in the 26th as Pompey moved to third with 28 points, 16 behind leader Manchester United.
Kevin Davies scored Bolton's first two goals at the Reebok Stadium before El Hadji Diouf and Nicolas Anelka added two more late in the game as the home side thrashed West Ham 4-0.
The Hammers stay in the relegation zone, above only Charlton and Watford.
Liverpool scored four second-half goals -- through Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Luis Garcia and Mark Gonzalez -- at Anfield to defeat Fulham and climb to fourth.
Dimitar Berbatov scored twice in Tottenham's 5-1 win over Charlton at White Hart Lane.
Obafemi Martins netted twice for Newcastle at Ewood Park as the Magpies beat Blackburn 3-1, which had Stephane Henchoz sent off five minutes before halftime.
Aiyegbeni Yakubu scored a 67th-minute equalizer for Middlesbrough after Henri Camara had given Wigan the lead at the Riverside. Last-place Watford was held to its fifth 0-0 draw of the season.
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