LONDON: Manchester United's troubles on the road persisted with a 0-0 draw at Sunderland coming after its dressing room was flooded by a sewage pipe before kickoff Saturday. Defending champion Chelsea can surge five points clear of Man United by winning Sunday's London derby against third-place Arsenal. It could have been a worse day for United, which has drawn all four away matches this season, had it not been for solid defending and several crucial saves from goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Nedum Onuoha had a shot cleared off United's goal line and Bolo Zenden's fierce 20-yard shot hit the post. United striker Dimitar Berbatov, who came on for Michael Owen, had a goal rightly disallowed for offside. Sunderland nearly went ahead when Malbranque's shot deflected up off Rio Ferdinand but it looped just over the crossbar. Instead of joining Chelsea on 15 points, United remains two adrift. Sunderland has already drawn against Arsenal and Liverpool and beaten Manchester City at home this season. But Tottenham, which also won in the Champions League Wednesday, returned to domestic action by coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 2-1, with Rafael van der Vaart scoring twice. Two records fell at St. Andrews, with Everton recording its first win of the season at Birmingham, whose 2-0 loss ended a 13-month unbeaten run at home. Fulham drew 1-1 at West Ham after American forward Clint Dempsey beat Hammers goalkeeper Robert Green with a left-footed volley in their first meeting since the Englishman's howler at the World Cup. Stoke leapt up the standings with a 1-0 victory over Blackburn, Wigan climbed out of the relegation zone by beating Wolverhampton 2-0 and West Bromwich held Bolton to 1-1. At White Hart Lane, Van der Vaart showed again why he could be the bargain buy of the summer transfer window. The 8-million pound (then $12 million) Dutch deadline-day recruit scored in first-half stoppage time and in the 75th for Tottenham after Marc Albrighton's first goal for Villa gave the visitors an early lead. Milan beats Parma Andrea Pirlo scored the only goal of the game as AC Milan defeated Parma 1-0 in the Serie A Saturday. Also, Udinese gained its first win of the season, but needed an injury-time winner from Mehdi Benatia to beat Cesena 1
