December 27, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 16, 1428

LONDON, Dec 26: Manchester United turned up the heat in the Premier League title chase with a 4-0 victory at Sunderland on Wednesday after Chelsea dropped points in an astonishing 4-4 home draw with Aston Villa.

Champions United were a class apart with two goals from Louis Saha and one each for Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo allowing them to cruise above Arsenal with 45 points.

Arsenal can reclaim pole position with victory at Portsmouth in a late kickoff.

The real holiday fireworks were at Stamford Bridge where Gareth Barry’s last-gasp penalty gave 10-man Villa a deserved share of the spoils – their second 4-4 draw away in the league this season.

Injury-hit Chelsea had Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole sent off after a double from Andriy Shevchenko and a goal from Alex had turned around a 2-0 deficit to put them 3-2 up.

In an action-packed final 20 minutes Martin Laursen made it 3-3, substitute Michael Ballack appeared to have sealed it for Chelsea with a sublime free kick before Cole was red-carded for deliberate handball and Barry drove in Villa’s equaliser.

Chelsea have 38 points, two more than fourth-placed Liverpool who needed a late Steven Gerrard winner to beat bottom club Derby County 2-1.

Everton continued their challenge for a top-four berth with a 2-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers while improving Tottenham Hotspur thrashed Fulham 5-1 at White Hart Lane – a result that left Fulham in the bottom three.

At the bottom Birmingham City gave themselves some breathing space with 3-0 victory over fellow strugglers Middlesbrough and Wigan Athletic moved out of the drop zone with a 1-0 defeat of inconsistent Newcastle United.

West Ham United drew 1-1 with Reading in a mid-table clash.

Results:

Birmingham City 3 Middlesbrough 0

Chelsea 4 Aston Villa 4

Derby County 1 Liverpool 2

Everton 2 Bolton Wanderers 0

Sunderland 0 Manchester United 4

Tottenham Hotspur 5 Fulham 1

West Ham United 1 Reading 1

Wigan Athletic 1 Newcastle United 0

—Reuters