Ryan Giggs' 100th league goal saw Manchester United on the way to a 4-1 win against bottom-of-the-table Derby County to keep up the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday.
Victory at Old Trafford, where Carlos Tevez scored either side of half-time, left second-placed United a point behind the Gunners, who were to travel to struggling Middlesbrough yesterday.
Chelsea remained third, two points adrift of United, after a 2-0 win against Sunderland, despite being without star striker Didier Drogba.
Liverpool lost in the league for the first time this season, 3-1 away to Reading but they remain in fourth place.
Portsmouth maintained their impressive form with a sixth successive away win as they beat Aston Villa 3-1, a victory that saw them move up into fifth spot.
Ayegbeni Yakubu's hat trick helped Everton move level on points with Villa after a 3-0 win at home to Fulham, who haven't won away in 25 league matches.
Meanwhile, Newcastle came from behind to beat Birmingham 2-1 with Habib Baye scoring a last-minute winner.
Giggs, in front of the Old Trafford faithful who've cheered him on for the last 16 years, put United in front five minutes before half-time when he followed up a Cristiano Ronaldo shot parried by Derby 'keeper Stephen Bywater.
It was the 34-year-old Welsh winger's 100th goal in 519 league appearances.
"He's a great character, a great person and a fantastic servant to us all," United manager Alex Ferguson said of Giggs.
United, on the stroke of half-time went 2-0 up with Portugal winger Ronaldo again involved. His free-kick wasn't cleared and Argentina striker Tevez struck from inside the box.
Tevez then put the result beyond doubt on the hour mark.
Steve Howard scored a consolation goal for Derby, their first away in the league this season before Ronaldo made it 4-1 from the penalty spot.
Andriy Shevchenko helped Chelsea make light of Drogba's absence, after his fellow striker was ruled out earlier on Saturday following a knee operation, by giving the Blues a 23rd minute lead at Stamford Bridge when he headed in from Salomon Kalou's cross.
Frank Lampard put the result beyond doubt with a 75th minute penalty after Danny Higginbotham's foul on Alex. Sunderland then saw Liam Miller sent off late for retaliation.
Reading took the lead against Liverpool in the 17th minute when Jamie Carragher fouled Brynjar Gunnarsson on the edge of the box.
Match referee Andre Marriner awarded a penalty, to Liverpool's anger, with Stephen Hunt scoring from the spot.
Liverpool though were level barely 10 minutes later when Steven Gerrard, their captain, burst into the box and shot past Marcus Hahnemann.
But the Royals regained the lead on the hour mark when Kevin Doyle flicked-on Nicky Shorey's free-kick.
And seven minutes later, after Gerrard had hit the bar, James Harper made it 3-1 after rounding Reina
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez defended his decision to take Gerrard off with 20 minutes to go.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
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LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
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