United join Gunners at top

Manchester United’s brief stay at the top of the Barclaycard Premiership may have lasted only just over two hours but they finished the day the happier as Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa.

United’s 4-0 win at home in the lunch-time kick-off against Liverpool had given them a one-point advantage over the Gunners but Arsene Wenger’s side crawled back to the summit on goal difference.

The defending champions found it hard going in a goalless first half at Villa Park but increased the pressure after the interval with Patrick Vieira, Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg all going close.

However, Arsenal were not to be denied and Ljungberg made the crucial breakthrough in the 56th minute, although they were indebted to Stuart Taylor for a finger-tip save from Thomas Hitzlsperger.

But he could do nothing when Kolo Toure sliced into his own net under pressure from Marcus Allback.

A penalty double from Ruud van Nistelrooy helped Manchester United to a flattering victory, opening his account in only the fifth minute after being brought down by Reds captain Sami Hyypia, who was sent off by referee Mike Riley.

His second came from a more controversial penalty midway through the second half, when Igor Biscan impeded Paul Scholes and there were further strikes from Ryan Giggs (78) and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (90).

At the other end of the table, Bolton raised the stakes in the relegation battle with a 2-0 victory – their third successive win – over Manchester City thanks to goals from Henrik Pedersen and Ivan Campo.

Missed chances by Les Ferdinand and Trevor Sinclair appeared to have cost West Ham dear at Southampton as their host’s England striker James Beattie headed in at the far post seconds before half-time.

Antti Niemi then made a good double save from Joe Cole and Sinclair early in the second half to maintain Saints’ advantage but Jermain Defoe netted a late equaliser to keep third-from-bottom Hammers in touch with the teams above them.

West Brom’s woes continued as they crashed to a 3-0 defeat against Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough striker Malcolm Christie, after missing an open goal in the first 20 minutes, recovered to give the home side the lead nine minutes before half-time.

Jonathan Greening increased the Baggies’ misery with a 76th-minute second and Szilard Nemeth completed the victory late on.

Bottom club Sunderland were boosted by Sean Thornton’s 12th-minute goal against Champions League-chasing Chelsea but were eventually brought down to earth.

Thornton chested the ball down before volleying past Carlo Cudicini but the Black Cats’ luck ran out seven minutes after half-time when Gianfranco Zola headed in substitute Carlton Cole’s cross.

It could have been worse for Sunderland as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had a goal disallowed minutes later, for what looked like handball.

Cole ensured Sunderland stayed bottom with the crucial goal five minutes from the end.

Birmingham’s debutant goalkeeper Andy Marriott suffered a major embarrassment at Tottenham in only the seventh minute when he dropped the ball in front of him, unaware of Robbie Keane’s presence, and the Republic of Ireland striker rolled the ball into an empty net.

Blues’ best chance came 20 minutes from time when Mauricio Taricco cleared off the line from Geoff Horsfield but when Gus Poyet climbed all over Christophe Dugarry, Paul Devlin fired home the 77th-minute penalty to equalise.

Poyet redeemed himself by volleying home the winner three minutes from time.