Man Utd awakes from long slumber to crush Forest

By Vic Mills

LONDON (JP): Having apparently slept through the first half of the Premiership season, Manchester United took the opportunity amid a crowded Boxing Day program to announce that it is now wide awake and quite definitely on the move.

After scoring five against Sunderland at the weekend, United traveled to bottom club Nottingham Forest and added another four without reply. The Old Trafford giant now stands third in the Premier League, five points behind Liverpool but with a game in hand.

On a wintry afternoon at the City Ground, Forest, buoyed by its shock win against Arsenal at the weekend, was handed a harsh lesson in the realities of Premiership life. Indeed, the gap between top and bottom was never better illustrated.

As if a warning to those clubs which would claim its crown, United, the burden of European expectation lifted until March, played with a confidence and composure that suggests the best is yet to come.

Goals from David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Norwegian Ole Solskjaer, his 10th of the season, put United firmly in control. The most significant strike, however, came as Andy Cole left the substitutes' bench to add a fourth thus ending a nightmare 12 months that has seen illness, injury and loss of form in equal measure.

The 20-yard drive by the striker left manager Alex Fergusson delighted: "I was so pleased for Andy. It was a fantastic goal, a magnificent strike - but then the boy is quality. He's come in really fresh for this game. He's had the first lengthy spell out of action in his career and for me it's like having a new player to pick from."

No such seasonal joy on Merseyside where a strangely subdued Liverpool could only manage a 1-1 draw against lowly Leicester City. The expected goal avalanche never materialized. In fact it was left to Stan Collymore to save the home side's blushes with an equalizer 10 minutes from time after Leicester had gone ahead through a Steve Claridge goal.

Liverpool remains three points clear at the top, however, as second place Arsenal could do no more than share the points in a disappointing nil-all draw at Sheffield Wednesday.

With Wimbledon's game against West Ham United postponed due to a frozen pitch, the scene was set for Aston Villa to make up ground on the leaders in its home game against unpredictable Chelsea.

Once again, the story did not go to script, as Chelsea, answering the call from Ruud Gullit for greater consistency, managed first to nullify the strike force of Dwight Yorke and Savo Milosevic before compounding the home side's misery with two second-half goals from the new darling of the Kings Road, Gianfranco Zola.

There was no happy return for Alan Shearer at Ewood Park where Newcastle United's faltering championship challenge was dealt another blow as it went down to a Kevin Gallacher goal against relegation threatened Blackburn Rovers.

Without a win in seven games, there are worrying times for Kevin Keegan and his management team. After watching Shearer fails to get a single effort on target, Keegan found it difficult to explain away the defeat: "I'm not sure we deserved to win, but I don't think we deserved to lose either."

Delighted with the win, Blackburn's joy was tempered somewhat as news filtered through that fellow strugglers Coventry City and Middlesbrough had also won.

Notching up its third successive victory, Gordon Strachan's rapidly improving Coventry side moved to 15th place in the Premiership, its highest positions this season, with a comprehensive 3-1 away win at Elland Road.

Old boys

Of several old boys returning to former clubs, Coventry's Gary McAllister had by far the happiest homecoming, his crucial penalty putting the result beyond doubt. An impressive win as Leeds had not conceded a goal in its last five games.

There was a welcome victory on Teeside too for Middlesbrough as Bryan Robson's expensively assembled side put Everton to the sword with a 4-2 victory, its first since mid-September.

Juninho, the forgotten Brazilian amid all the troubles involving Branco and Emerson, sealed the win with two second-half goals that moved Middlesbrough up two places to 16th.

Elsewhere in the Premiership Tottenham Hotspur moved to the fringe of the championship race with a 3-1 home win against struggling Southampton. Reveling in the freezing temperatures, Norway's Steffen Iverson, recently signed from Rosenborg Trondheim, scored two with Dane Alan Neilsen making it an all- Scandinavian scoresheet with the third.

England midfield player Matthew Le Tissier came off the substitutes' bench to pull a goal back. Indeed, Southampton belied its bottom three position and could easily have come away with a point after hitting the woodwork twice in the first half.

In the mid-table encounter at Roker Park, Sunderland erased last weekend's five-goal mauling at Old Trafford with a 2-0 victory over fellow Premiership newcomer Derby County.

Results

English Premier league: Aston Villa 0 Chelsea 2 Blackburn 1 Newcastle 0 Leeds 1 Coventry 3 Liverpool 1 Leicester 1 Middlesbrough 4 Everton 2 Not Forest 0 Man United 4 Sunderland 2 Derby 0 Tottenham 3 Southampton 1 S Wednesday 0 Arsenal 0 Wimbledon v West Ham postponed