SWANSEA — Manchester United's lead over Manchester City is down to four points from six after the Premier Leage leader was held 1-1 at Swansea City's Liberty Stadium Sunday. In the other match of the day, Chelsea thrashed hapless Aston Villa 8-0 to climb to third place in the Premier League. Goals from Fernando Torres, David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic put last season's Champions League winner 3-0 up at the interval, before Frank Lampard marked his 500th Premier League start with a long-range goal. Three Brazilian substitutes deepened Villa's woe — Ramires making it 5-0 from Lucas Piazon's pass in the 75th minute and Oscar netting from the penalty spot before Eden Hazard scored a fine seventh. Ramires got on the score-sheet again in injury time as Chelsea recorded its second 8-0 victory in the Premier League after a previous annihilation of Wigan Athletic in May 2010. Manchester United hold the Premier League record for the widest winning margin, having beaten Ipswich Town 9-0 in March 1995. Patrice Evra struck with a first-half header to put United on its way but a Michu equalizer before half-time was enough to give Swansea a richly deserved point. Having seen neighbor City cut its lead at the top of the league to three points with Saturday's last-gasp 1-0 victory over Reading, United was keen to restore its healthy advantage going into the busy festive period. United winger Antonio Valancia had an early cross blocked by Ben Davies but it was Swansea which looked the more likely in the early stages, with Nathan Dyer putting in a dangerous cross and Michu spurning a sight of goal. The Spaniard, who now has 13 goals in the league this season, fired high and wide under pressure from Nemanja Vidic, but the threat was clear. Clearly smarting from a sluggish start, United might have taken the lead in the 14th minute when Michel Vorm, back in the Swansea goal after a two-month injury lay-off, beat away Wayne Rooney's 25-yard strike. Two minutes later, Evra rose to head home Robin van Persie's near-post corner. Van Persie and Valencia were the main source of Swansea's problems, though Rooney almost latched onto Ashley Young's crisp center after van Persie had torn a hole in the home midfield. Then, as United dropped their guard, Swansea struck. Routledge sent in Jonathan de Guzman and though his shot was kept out by De Gea, Michu arrived with perfect timing to make it 13 for the season. The introduction of Javier Hernandez gave United a little more bite, with Rooney dropping back into the visitors' four-man midfield. From that juncture, United began to dominate. Van Persie, who was booked with Ashley Williams after the pair had a spat on the edge of the 18-yard box, struck the crossbar with a volley from Rooney's center and Vorm pulled off a smart save from Hernandez. Stewart Downing scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool in a comfortable 4-0 victory over a lackluster Fulham Saturday that lifted the Anfield club to a season-high eighth. — Agencies
Premier League Table P W D L F A Pts 1. Man United 18 14 1 3 44 25 43 2. Man City 18 11 6 1 34 15 39 3. Chelsea 17 9 5 3 36 17 32 4. Arsenal 18 8 6 4 32 18 30 5. Everton 18 7 9 2 30 22 30 6. Tottenham 18 9 3 6 30 25 30 7. Westbrom 18 9 3 6 26 22 30 8. Liverpool 18 6 7 5 27 23 25 9. Stoke City 18 5 10 3 15 13 25 10. Norwich City 18 6 7 5 20 27 25 11. Swansea City 18 6 6 6 27 23 24 12. West Ham 18 6 5 7 22 22 23 13. Fulham 18 5 5 8 28 33 20 14. Newcastle 18 5 5 8 20 26 20 15. Sunderland 18 4 7 7 19 24 19 16. Aston Villa 18 4 6 8 15 32 18 17. Southampton 17 4 3 10 22 33 15 18. Wigan 18 4 3 11 18 33 15 19. QPR 18 1 7 10 15 31 10 20. Reading 18 1 6 11 21 37 9
