London: Wayne Rooney scored twice and Manchester United outplayed Aston Villa 4-0 to move six points clear in the English Premier League title race, while Arsenal rallied from two goals and a man down to win 3-2 at Bolton.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 35th goal of the season in all competitions to put the Red Devils on the road to an easy victory at Old Trafford and Carlos Tevez added a second in the 33rd minute. Rooney's brace in the 53rd and 70th minutes means that Alex Ferguson's team has a huge goals differential of 53, having scored 68 and conceded only 15.

"The players reached a peak last week and we continued that today," Ferguson said in reference to last weekend's 3-0 victory over Liverpool.

"They realise now it's a race to the line, we need consistency and real focus and we showed fantastic energy. The title doesn't feel that close for us, but there is great confidence in the way the team is playing and that's always great at this time of the year."

After Matt Taylor had scored twice for relegation-threatened Bolton at Reebok Stadium and Abou Diaby had been shown a 31st-minute red card for a foul on Gretar Steinsson, the Gunners looked likely to fall further behind leader Manchester United, who now have 76 points from 32 games with six more rounds to play.

But William Gallas replied in the 62nd minute, Robin van Persie equalised with a 68th-minute penalty after Gary Cahill had brought down Alexander Hleb, and an own-goal by defender JLloyd Samuel in the final minute gave Arsenal the three points.
Source : PTI