MANCHESTER — Manchester United heaped more misery on Liverpool by beating its great rival 3-0 in the Premier League Sunday, earning a sixth straight win to underline the transformation in fortunes of England's two biggest clubs. Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata — from an offside position — scored to give United a 2-0 lead at halftime and Robin van Persie added the third in the 71st minute at Old Trafford. While third-place United remained eight points behind leader Chelsea to maintain its unlikely title challenge, Liverpool is languishing in mid-table, dropping to 10th after Tottenham Hotspur climbed above it with a 2-1 victory at Swansea City in the day's other fixture. The score was harsh on Liverpool, with United goalkeeper David de Gea producing a string of brilliant saves to deny Raheem Sterling and substitute Mario Balotelli. The visitors were also unlucky that Mata was not signaled offside when he headed home to make it 2-0 in the 40th, puncturing Liverpool's bright start. “They were much more clinical when they needed to be,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. “For their goalkeeper to get man of the match tells you everything.” But these are worrying times for Rodgers. He is lacking a clinical finisher in the absence of the injured Daniel Sturridge, his defense is in a mess and he has doubts about his first-choice goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who was dropped here for Brad Jones. It ended a miserable week for Liverpool, which was eliminated from the Champions League Tuesday. Without hitting anywhere near top form, United is perhaps making the title race a three-team fight. Louis van Gaal's side has no European or English League Cup commitments to clog up its schedule this season. Having spent around $250 million bolstering its squad in the last off-season, a title challenge is probably the least United's fans and owners expect — although none of the summer signings even started against Liverpool. Van Gaal is getting results with the players he inherited from David Moyes, and with a dose of fortune. Doubles from Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla gave Arsenal a 4-1 victory over Newcastle Saturday, restoring unity at the Emirates Stadium after scattered fan discontent followed last weekend's loss at Stoke. Although Arsenal is still out of the top four, a sixth successive Premier League victory over Newcastle nudged Arsene Wenger's side — with a makeshift defense — within two points of Champions League places. Roma closes deficit A superb scissor-kick from Radja Nainggolan helped secure the points as Roma closed the gap on Serie A leader Juventus to just a point Sunday after a 1-0 defeat of 10-man Genoa. Gian Piero Gasperini's high-flyers welcomed Roma looking for their seventh win in 10 games but the visitors were given a huge incentive after Sampdoria held Juventus to a 1-1 draw in Turin. Roma was given a boost on the half hour when goalkeeper Matti Perin was issued a straight red card for a challenge on Nainggolan as the Belgian international tried to round him to the left of goal. Although replacement Eugenio Lamanna did well to stop Adem Ljajic's resulting spot-kick on what was the ‘keeper's Serie A debut, Roma's advantage would eventually tell. Nainggolan found himself in plenty of space five minutes before half-time and produced a fine piece of mid-air wizardry to fire Maicon's delivery past a helpless Lamanna. The result has given a huge boost to Rudi Garcia's men only days after their failure to reach the last 16 of the Champions League following a 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City. Elsewhere, Luca Toni scored his 300th career goal as Verona claimed a precious 2-1 away win at Udinese thanks to Lazaros Christodoulopoulos's winner. Antonio Di Natale scored his 201st Serie A goal for Udinese to close to within four of Roberto Baggio's 205-goal tally. Parma picked up a precious point from their first draw of the season at home to Cagliari, although Roberto Donadoni's men remain rooted to the foot of the table. Earlier, Manolo Gabbiadini struck in the second half to put the brakes on Juventus's title charge as Sampdoria grabbed a 1-1 draw in Turin. Lazio sits in third place, nine points adrift of Roma, following a 3-0 win over Atalanta on Saturday although Sampdoria, in fourth, and fifth-placed Genoa also have 26 points. – Agencies
