Man. Utd opens six-point lead in Premiership
By Vic Mills
MELBOURNE (JP): Manchester United, aided and abetted by its quality squad, made full use of the hectic Christmas period to open up a six-point gap at the top of the Premiership with a 2-0 home win over Everton in the traditional Boxing Day program.
There was an air of inevitability about the result with the Merseyside club just one place and two points off the bottom. With experienced players Duncan Ferguson and Slaven Bilic suspended, Everton was never in the game.
Norwegian defender Henning Berg opened the scoring in the 14th minute when he beat compatriot Thomas Myhre to register his first goal for the club.
Andy Cole brought the capacity 55,000 crowd to their feet later in the game with his 14th goal in fourteen games.
The Everton manager, Howard Kendall, was relieved not to have been beaten by more goals: " The scoreline doesn't reflect the 90 minutes of football," he said.
"Manchester United was dominant from the first whistle to the last. We had a number of youngsters out there today who really didn't do themselves any favors, although when you come to Old Trafford it's not the easiest of places to perform.
"They have a tremendous record, they a great side and with the number of players we had missing today we are a depleted squad. We were asking boys to do a man's job which didn't work out."
Second place Blackburn Rovers faltered away from home as it could do no better than draw 0-0 at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday.
Chelsea's inability to beat fellow Londoners Wimbledon keeps it a further point behind in third place. Proving an admirable replacement for the suspended Mark Hughes, Gianluca Vialli scored as early as the 8th minute, but Michael Hughes capitalized on an error in the home defense to level the scores twenty minutes later.
Liverpool continued its recent run of form to move fourth ahead of Leeds United on goal difference after beating it 3-1 at Anfield. Michael Owen opened the scoring early in the second half and Robbie Fowler sealed victory with strikes in the 79th and 83rd minute before Alf-Inge Haaland pulled one back for Leeds.
There was better news too for Arsenal which moved sixth after beating Leicester City 2-1 at Highbury with a David Platt strike and a chipped own-goal from Steve Walsh. Wayward dribbling from goalkeeper David Seaman gifted Neil Lennon a consolation goal for the visitors.
Other matches
Paul Kitson, back after three months out with injury, boosted West Ham's Christmas with the only goal of the game against Coventry City at Upton Park. While always in with a chance, the visitors clearly missed the influence of their injured captain and playmaker, Gary McAllister.
There was still no joy at Selhurst Park for Crystal Palace as it again failed to notch a first home win of the season after being held 1-1 by Southampton.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa had little difficulty in accounting for relegation-threatened Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 at Villa Park; the holiday period remained blank for Newcastle United as it went down 1-0 at Derby County; and Barnsley remains bottom despite a creditable 1-1 draw at Bolton.
With barely 48 hours respite, the Premiership clubs do it all over again on Sunday and Monday.
And nowhere will the expectation be higher than at White Hart Lane where a capacity crowd will be on hand to welcome the return of Spurs favored foreign son, Juergen Klinsmann, against north London neighbor Arsenal.
The German international, scorer of 29 goals in his one season with the club three years ago, has been signed on loan from Sampdoria for the rest of the season.
At the top of the table, Manchester United heads to the Midlands in an effort to extend its lead with a fixture against Coventry City.
Of the other teams in contention, Blackburn Rovers plays host to a Crystal Palace side who tend to save their best for away games; Chelsea heads to the south coast on Monday for a tricky fixture against improving Southampton; while rejuvenated Liverpool travels to Tyneside for a meeting with Kenny Dalglish and Newcastle United.