Big Guns Dominate Again in English Premier League - 01-04-10

January 4 - Being that last week was a short week given that it was New Year's and all, only four games were played, and the two containing league number 2 and 3 respectively, Manchester United and Arsenal, just proved how intent both teams are to catch up with Chelsea who are at the top of the league.

On Wednesday last week, Manchester United took on the Wigan Athletic, a team closer to the bottom the English Premier League this season than to the top. So it came as no surprise when Manchester handed Wigan their heads to them on plate. The Red Devils took control early on and did not relinquish it.

Plus it did not help Wigan Athletics' cause any that they had to face the Red Devils at Old Trafford in front of tens of thousands Man Utd supporters. And if that wasn't off-putting enough, the home team started off the game as they finished it - on a mission to get within spitting distance of Chelsea in the standings.

Despite  flurry of impressive, but missed shots at the Wigan goal, it was Wayne Rooney who opened up the scoring for Manchester. As a gap between his shooting foot and the Wigan goal opened up, Rooney sent a deft volley flying past Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, which ended up in the back of the net.

That first goal opened the sluice gates and by the final whistle, a dejected Kirkland left the field knowing he had let in four more United goals to his own team's nil goals. So 5-0 up, with 43 points Manchester United put themselves within two points of Chelsea in this season's English Premier League standings.

Similarly, Arsenal had the same idea as their bitter rivals to the north as they took on Portsmouth on Wednesday, a team who is sitting at the bottom of the league and faces certain relegation. Although they scored one goal to Arsenal's four, like Wigan, Portsmouth too left the field tails firmly between their legs.

So with Arsenal sitting on 41 points behind Manchester's 43 points behind Chelsea's 45 points, there is everything to play for as the English Premier League starts to really heat up. Here are the English Premier League Football results from Tuesday, December 29 and Wednesday, December 30:

Portsmouth 1-4 Arsenal
Man Utd 5-0 Wigan Athletic
Aston Villa 0-1 Liverpool
Bolton 2-2 Hull City