United stay top as Chelsea put seven past Villa

Reigning champions Manchester United re-established a one point lead at the top of the English Premier League with a 4-0 victory over Bolton at the Reebok Stadium in yesterday's late match.

United kicked off two points below the summit after Frank Lampard scored four goals in Chelsea's 7-1 thrashing of Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

It took United, without injured star striker Wayne Rooney, 38 minutes to go ahead through a Jlloyd Samuel own goal.

And it wasn't until 21 minutes from time that United added a second when Dimitar Berbatov, leading the line in Rooney's absence, scored the first of his two goals before substitute Darron Gibson added a fourth in the 82nd minute.

Earlier, Lampard took his tally for the season to 21 goals - passing the 150 mark in all for the Blues - while the victory meant Chelsea had scored 12 goals in a week after a 5-0 rout of basement club Portsmouth.

"It was absolutely outstanding," said Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins.

Turning to Lampard, Wilkins - himself a former England midfielder - said: "Frank has had a remarkable season, a remarkable career. The guy works so hard in training."

Dejected Villa manager Martin O'Neill said: "We were well beaten by a fine side. We stopped competing at 3-1 and that's unforgivable."

Arsenal stayed third after dropping points in a 1-1 draw away to Birmingham.

Samir Nasri's goal nine minutes from time appeared to have sealed victory for Arsenal only for Kevin Phillips to equalise.

"It's very difficult to play football on this pitch but we will fight until the end," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose side face Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday.

Fourth-placed Tottenham maintained their bid for Champions League football next season with a 2-0 win at home to Portsmouth that took the visitors to the brink of relegation.

Elsewhere Stoke piled the pressure on West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola with a 1-0 win at Upton Park thanks to substitute striker Ricardo Fuller's 69th-minute goal.

A second home defeat in a week, their sixth straight loss, left the Hammers above the relegation zone solely on goal difference after fellow strugglers Hull won 2-0 at home to Fulham.

"It think it was better than the way we played the other day but it wasn't good enough to win the game. I'm so disappointed," said Zola.

Meanwhile Wolves and Everton shared the points in a goalless draw.

In an FA Cup semi-final dress rehearsal, between Tottenham and Portsmouth, former Pompey striker Peter Crouch opened the scoring in the 27th minute when he headed past fellow England international David James.

Spurs doubled their lead four minutes before the break through another Pompey old boy, Niko Kranjcar.

Defeat nudged Portsmouth nearer relegation and was made worse by what appeared to be an Achilles injury to defender Hermann Hreidarsson.

Hull's Jimmy Bullard scored against his old club Fulham from the penalty spot in the 16th minute after Jozy Altidore was brought down by Chris Smalling at the KC Stadium.

The Tigers made it 2-0 three minutes after the break when Craig Fagan looped a header over Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.