United go three points clear

Manchester United thrashed bottom club West Bromwich Albion 5-0 at the Hawthorns to move three points clear at the top of the Premier League yesterday.

Cristiano Ronaldo struck two late goals for the rampant Reds after Dimitar Berbatov, Carlos Tevez and Nemanja Vidic had put the champions in control against 10-man West Brom.

United, who have 50 points from 22 games, also set a new top-flight record of 11 league matches without conceding a goal, eclipsing Chelsea's feat in 2004-05.

Aston Villa climbed into third place on 47 points with England striker Emile Heskey scoring on his debut in a 1-0 victory at Portsmouth.

Tottenham Hotspur eased their relegation fears with a 3-1 home win over Stoke City. Goals from Aaron Lennon, Jermaine Defoe and Michael Dawson put Spurs 3-0 up inside the opening 26 minutes.

Stoke did improve after the break and managed to pull a goal back through James Beattie on 57 minutes. Sunderland beat Fulham 1-0, Kenwyne Jones netting the winner after 55 minutes.

Second-placed Liverpool travel to Wigan Athletic this evening when they can move level on points with United.

Bogdanovic scores on debut

Daniel Bogdanovic marked his debut for Barnsley with a goal in last night's 2-1 defeat to Ipswich at the Oakwell Stadium.

The Malta striker, who joined the Championship side from Lokomotiv Sofia on Monday, was handed a place in the Tykes starting formation and played for 82 minutes before he was replaced by Kayode Odejayi.

Jonathan Stead scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes to put Ipswich 2-0 up.

Bogdanovic pulled a goal back for Barnsley two minutes into the second half when he drilled a powerful effort home from close in.