LONDON, April 27: Manchester United moved five points clear of Arsenal at the top of the premier league after second-half goals from Paul Scholes and Ruud Van Nistelrooy beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Scholes met a cross from Ryan Giggs on the edge of the six-metre box after 69 minutes and headed home to break Tottenham’s dogged resistance and Van Nistelrooy wrapped up the victory in injury time with a low drive.

The win puts United on 77 points from 36 games, while second-placed Arsenal have 72 points from 35 matches after their 2-2 draw at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday. If United win their last two matches they will take the title from Arsenal.

United dominated the match but missed a host of chances after a fine performance by Spurs goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who foiled Van Nistelrooy on at least four occasions.

The league leaders brought back David Beckham, who was controversially left on the bench by manager Alex Ferguson for the Champions League quarter-final, second leg against Real Madrid last Wednesday, and Scholes after suspension into their midfield.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer switched from the right wing to the left to accommodate the return of Beckham. United were also without goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who was replaced by Roy Carroll.

For their part, Tottenham gave a first start to Japan international Kazuyuki Toda, who played in all his country’s games at the World Cup last year.

United began brightly and in the first minute Van Nistelrooy tested Keller when he broke through the defence and fired a low shot from the edge of the penalty area that the goalkeeper did well to save.

Keller’s opposite number Carroll also had to move smartly to save at the feet of Matthew Etherington after he broke through the United defence on 11 minutes.

But it was Van Nistelrooy who should have given United the lead after 29 minutes when he pounced on a mistake by Ledley King and struck a shot from just outside the six metre area that Keller managed to get a hand to.

Spurs defender Dean Richards then left the pitch injured and with the home side down to 10 men, Beckham delivered a perfect cross that Van Nistelrooy met with a firm header just after the half-hour mark but Keller was again on hand to tip the ball over.

Anthony Gardener replaced Richards before Van Nistelrooy was kept out once again by Keller, who smothered the ball after the Dutchman threatened to open the scoring as halftime loomed.

United went on the attack immediately after the break and Solskjaer burned Keller’s fingertips as the goalkeeper pushed a blistering shot over the bar from 25 metres.

Gary Neville was brought on for Wes Brown at right back nine minutes into the second half as Ferguson tried to help his team up the tempo. Five minutes later Giggs whistled a shot across the face of the Spurs goal.

Beckham then blasted a free kick just wide of Keller’s left-hand post from 30 metres and another shot by Neville was charged down with Keller punching the resulting corner clear of the danger area as United stepped up the pressure.

Then Beckham fed Giggs and the United winger made good progress down the left before delivering a perfect cross for Scholes, who had the simple task of heading the ball past the helpless Keller.

It was left for Van Nistelrooy to round off the win after he latched on to a fine chipped pass from Fortune and drove a low shot past the defiant Keller.

Results:

Manchester City 0 West Ham United 1

Tottenham Hotspur 0 Manchester United 2

Played on Saturday:

Birmingham City 3 Middlesbrough 0

Bolton Wanderers 2 Arsenal 2

Charlton Athletic 2 Southampton 1

Chelsea 1 Fulham 1

Everton 2 Aston Villa 1

Leeds United 2 Blackburn Rovers 3

Sunderland 0 Newcastle United 1

West Bromwich Albion 0 Liverpool 6

Italian league:

Bologna 1 Chievo Verona 1

Como 0 Modena 0

Empoli 1 Udinese 1

Juventus 2 Brescia 1

Piacenza 5 Perugia 1

Reggina 0 Parma 0

Played on Saturday:

Atalanta 2 Torino 2

AS Roma 2 AC Milan 1

German league

Arminia Bielefeld 2 Energie Cottbus 2

Kaiserslautern 1 Werder Bremen 0

—Reuters