These are the results of the Premier League on Saturday: Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd.
Manchester United took another stride towards a 20th league title with a comfortable victory at Sunderland.
United's first-half winner came when Robin van Persie
fired in a shot from the left which flew into the net off the knee of
Titus Bramble.
Sunderland never looked like breaching a United defence that has not conceded a Premier League goal in 627 minutes.
Van Persie was denied in stoppage time by Simon Mignolet as
injury-hit Sunderland
finished deflated.
Arsenal 4-1 Reading.
Arsenal maintained their push for a top-four finish with a comfortable
victory that sent Reading bottom of the Premier League on goal
difference.
Gervinho opened the scoring with a close-range finish from Santi Cazorla's cross-come-shot as Arsenal dominated.
Cazorla curled in after half-time before Olivier Giroud drilled a third.
Reading reduced the deficit through Hal Robson-Kanu's
header, but Mikel Arteta secured the points with a penalty after a foul
on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Arsenal had many more chances to increase their advantage, but the result was never in doubt.
Man City 4-0 Newcastle.
Manchester City outclassed Newcastle United to strengthen their grip on
second place in the Premier League
and ensure Manchester United did not increase their already commanding lead at the top.
United had briefly extended their advantage to 18 points by
beating Sunderland earlier in the day
but City responded with a convincing performance and victory that showed that, although they might have failed in the
defence of their title
, they are not about to throw it away.
Newcastle, who remain in danger at the other end of the table, defended
with determination early on but Carlos Tevez and David Silva scored in
quick succession before the break and, after it, Vincent Kompany and a
James Perch own goal completed a one-sided victory.
Southampton 2-1 Chelsea.
Chelsea's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League suffered a
setback as Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert scored to earn struggling
Southampton victory.
Rodriguez opened the scoring with a composed 23rd-minute finish after good work by Lambert and Steven Davis.
John Terry marked his first league start since 2 February by heading a 33rd-minute equaliser from a corner.
But Lambert's 25-yard free-kick earned the Saints victory as Chelsea suffered a third straight away league defeat.
Southampton climbed to 13th in the table after
establishing a four-point safety cushion from the relegation places,
with Mauricio Pochettino's side recording back-to-back league wins for
the first time since November.
Swansea 1-2 Tottenham.
Tottenham moved up to third in the Premier League after an impressive win over Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.
After two successive league defeats, Spurs went ahead
when Jan Vertonghen played a neat one-two with Gareth Bale and slotted
home from close range.
Vertonghen then found Bale who fired a 20-yard shot into the top corner.
Tottenham 'showed winning mentality'
Nathan Dyer headed against the bar, and as the home
side applied more pressure after the break Michu headed in off the post,
but Spurs held on for a key win.
A lacklustre defeat in a seemingly routine home fixture
against mid-table Fulham
two weeks ago led some critics to speculate on whether Spurs might
suffer the kind of malaise that resulted in only one win from nine at a
similar stage last term, a sequence that, combined with Chelsea's
Champions League success, cost them a place in Europe's elite club
competition.
West Ham 3-1 West Brom.
Andy Carroll scored twice to ease West Ham's fears of dropping into the Championship with a win over West Brom.
The striker's thumping header gave the home side the
lead, before Hammers goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen was forced into
action with smart saves.
Gary O'Neil's sweet strike doubled the advantage with Carroll's superb volley giving the hosts a third goal.
Baggies' Graham Dorrans scored a late penalty and Youssouf Mulumbu was sent off for kicking the ball at O'Neil.
West Ham's comfortable victory means they are now on 36
points, six clear of the bottom three, with eight games of the season
remaining.
Wigan 1-0 Norwich.
Arouna Kone's late winner moved Wigan out of the Premier League's
bottom three and left Norwich only four points above the relegation
zone.
The Ivorian was played in by Jordi Gomez before
launching a fierce low drive that beat the dive of Canaries goalkeeper
Lee Camp.
Everton 1-0 Stoke.
Kevin Mirallas's stunning solo goal maintained
Everton's hopes of European qualification,
while pushing Stoke closer to the drop zone.
A laboured contest at Goodison Park was lifted when the
winger countered from inside his own half before slotting calmly past
goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Prior to that, Stoke's Jonathan Walters had hit the crossbar from close-range.
