Premier League round-up: Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar and his defenders made Premier League history as Alex Ferguson's side crushed 10-man West Brom 5-0 at The Hawthorns to move three points clear at the top of the table.
The 38-year-old surpassed Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech’s 2004-2005 record of 925 minutes without conceding a goal and United also set a new record of 11 successive clean sheets, breaking the Blues record of four years ago.
First half goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez — after a Scott Carson blunder killed the game as a meaningful contest. Cristiano Ronaldo (2) and Nemanja Vidic struck after the break.
Albion were handicapped by the harsh sending-off of acting skipper Paul Robinson five minutes before the interval for a challenge on United midfielder Ji-Sung Park.
Aston Villaclimbed level with second-placed Liverpool on 47 points after new signing Emile Heskey hit a 20th-minute clincher on his debut in the visitors 1-0 win over Portsmouthat Fratton Park.
But it was another night of misery for Pompey boss Tony Adams who saw his own new signing Hayden Mullins miss two good chances and then had Nadir Belhadj sent off for a silly second yellow card 20 minutes from the end.
Pompey proceeded to put up a great fight after going a man down but had no cutting edge to break through a Villa side that soaked up pressure after Gabriel Agbonlahor played in Heskey for the winner.
Tottenhamrecorded their first league victory in more than a month by defeating Stoke3-1 with a burst of first-half goals at White Hart Lane.
The win for Harry Redknapp’s win was built on strikes by Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe’s third goal in four starts since rejoining Spurs and a header from Michael Dawson, before James Beattie pulled one back for the visitors after the interval.
The hosts were helped by Luka Modric pulling the strings in central midfield, allowing Spurs to pick up their first three points since winning at West Ham at the start of December.
In tonight's final match, Kenwyne Jones celebrated his new contract with the only goal as Sunderlandended a run of four Barclays Premier League games without a win against Fulham.
The Trinidad and Tobago international, who signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract earlier in the day, pounced on the loose ball after Mark Schwarzer had saved Djibril Cisse’s 55th-minute shot to edge a tight encounter 1-0.
Schwarzer had earlier denied both men and later pulled off a fine reaction stop to keep out Steed Malbranque’s 63rd-minute effort, but his heroics could not prevent the Londoners from slipping to a second successive league defeat after a sequence of nine without loss.
The win, which came in front of a crowd of 36,539, eased the Black Cats further clearer of the drop zone and set them up perfectly for Sunday’s derby trip to fellow strugglers Newcastle.
Remarkably, it was just Sunderland’s fourth victory on their own pitch this season and, perhaps the 2-1 win over the Magpies in October apart, the most welcome.
