Wayne Rooney scored a hat trick and Ryan Giggs collected his 100th Premier League goal as Manchester United won 4-1 at bottom-place Portsmouth Saturday. Giggs reached goal landmark a day before his 36th birthday to help the defending champion close the gap on Chelsea to two points ahead of the leaders' trip to Arsenal Sunday. “He's an exceptional player. A rarity. He will play for two years yet,” said 67-year-old United manager Alex Ferguson said. “Happy Birthday. He's had it 36 times in his life, wait until he gets to 67. I think he'll be retired by then.” In the battle for the Champions League spots, Tottenham moved up to third after drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa, while Manchester City slumped to a seventh successive draw after being held 1-1 by Hull. West Ham boosted its survival hopes by defeating Burnley 5-3, but Bolton remained in the relegation zone after drawing 1-1 at Fulham, while Wigan beat Sunderland 1-0 and Blackburn drew 0-0 with Stoke. Avram Grant took charge of Portsmouth for the first time after being appointed manager following Paul Hart's dismissal. But Grant – whose first and last matches as Chelsea manager were losses to United – again had the misfortune to face the 18-time English champion after 18 months away from management. Grant's team got off to the worst possible start when Rooney tumbled in the penalty area following a clumsy challenge by Michael Brown. But after Rooney converted from the penalty kick in the 25th minute, Kevin-Prince Boateng leveled from the spot at the other end after Nemanja Vidic fouled Frederic Piquionne. Rooney restored United's lead three minutes into the second half when he latched onto Ryan Giggs' pass. The England forward grabbed a third minutes later when Piquionne was penalized for fouling Giggs and he slotted in the penalty kick. And Giggs found time to score to leave Pompey rooted to the bottom of the standings. At Manchester City, not even the return of Brazil forward Robinho after three months on the sidelines could return the big-spending club to winning ways. Shaun Wright-Phillips had put big-spending City ahead on the stroke of half time with a 25-meter strike, but Jimmy Bullard leveled in the closing minutes from the penalty spot after Joleon Lescott was adjudged to have handled. Bremen drops point Per Mertesacker scored in the second minute of injury time as Werder Bremen rallied for a 2-2 draw against defending champion Wolfsburg Saturday to return to the top of the Bundesliga. In other matches it was: Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 Schalke 0; Mainz 1 Hamburg 1; Borussia Dortmund 2 Hoffenheim 1; Freiburg 1 Nuremberg 0; Eintracht Frankfurt 3 Hertha Berlin 1.
