Premier League review: Manchester United stayed in control at the top of the Premier League with an utterly dominant display against a woeful Birmingham City that yielded five goals and a hat-trick for Dimitar Berbatov. While Arsenal kept pace with the leaders, Manchester City slipped up at Villa Park where a debut goal for Darren Bent sealed a home win.
The Bulgarian had two inside half an hour and added his third seven minutes into the second half, after Ryan Giggs netted and before Nani's sublime finish sealed en effortless win.
Berbatov's first came in the second minute when he headed home after John O’Shea flicked on a Giggs corner, and United proceeded to lay siege to the visitors’ goal.
He increased United’s lead in the 30th minute when he pounced on an error by Blues defender Roger Johnson to slide home his 17th of the season, and Giggs rifled in from a narrow angle in first-half injury-time to make the scoreline 3-0 at the break.
The misery continued for Birmingham after the break as Berbatov converted his hat-trick after 53 minutes and Nani's low effort on 76 minutes completed the rout.
Villastriker Bent instantly repaid a slice of his €21 million fee with the winner against City. The former Sunderland player broke the deadlock with his first clearcut opportunity after 18 minutes and City never found a way back.
With their €60 million strike force of Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko, they dominated for long spells but could not find a way past Villa’s rock solid defence in which James Collins and former City centre-back Richard Dunne were outstanding.
Robin van Persie matched Berbatov's efforts by grabbing all three in Arsenal's easy 3-0 win over struggling Wiganat the Emirates Stadium - and the striker could even afford to miss a penalty.
Van Persie opened the scoringn after 22 minutes when he fired a shot past visiting keeper Ali Al-Habsi, who had pulled off a pair of super saves early to deny both Van Persie and Samir Nasri.
Van Persie had to wait until the 58th minute to add his second with a crisp volley, and despite ballooning a 70th-minute spot-kick over the bar after the incident which saw Wigan's Gary Caldwell sent off, he finally netted his third five minutes from time.
Aaron Lennon snatched a dramatic 1-1 draw for Tottenhamat St James' Park when he fired home in injury time to cancel out Fabricio Coloccini's 59th-minute opener for Newcastle.
Coloccini's superbly controlled effort looked to have taken the points after a goalless first half in which Leon Best hit the bar for the home side and Jermain Defoe was denied by a magnificent save by Steve Harper.
And there was an equally dramatic finish at Goodison Park where Marouane Fellaini's injury-time effort secured a 2-2 draw for Evertonagainst West Ham.
Jonathan Spector had given the Hammers the half-time lead before Diniyar Bilyaletdinov equalised with a right-foot shot in the 66th minute but the real drama was yet to come.
Frederic Piquionne headed home a Wayne Bridge cross to put the Hammers in front with six minutes to go, only to be handed a second yellow card for over-celebrating.
However, West Ham couldn't hold on as Fellaini's last-gasp leveller bagged a point for Everton and left Avram Grant's men rock-bottom.
In the early kick-off, Kenny Dalglish got his second campaign as Liverpoolboss up and running with a comfortable 3-0 win at Wolvesthanks to a double from Fernando Torres and one from Raul Meireles.
It was only Liverpool's third away win in the Premier League in 13 months
Kieran Richardson proved there is life after Bent at Sunderlandas he scored his first two goals of the season to give the Black Cats a 2-1 win over Blackpoolat Bloomfield Road.
Richardson slid home a 15th-minute opener and increased the visitors' lead on 36 with a neat left-foot finish.
Charlie Adam's penalty four minutes from time was not enough to rescue the home side.
Clint Dempsey's double gave Fulhama 2-0 win in a bad-tempered tussle against Stokeat Craven Cottage, with the visitors finishing with 10 men after the 55th minute dismissal of Ryan Shawcross.
Damien Duff hit the bar for the home side before Dempsey smashed home an Andrew Johnson cross after 33 minutes.
Demspey added the second from the spot after he was brought down by Shawcross in the incident which brought the Stoke man's red card.
