London, Sept 14: Manchester United beat Charlton 2-0 to move within a point of English premier league leaders Arsenal. Ruud van Nistelrooy's second-half double gave champions Manchester United a 2-0 win at Charlton Athletic in the premier league on Saturday (September 13). Paolo di Canio made his first full Premiership start for Charlton and got a warm welcome from the south London side's fans. But it was United's new signing Cristiano Ronaldo who provided most of the chances in the first half. He linked well with van Nistelrooy but his low shot was beaten away by Charlton goalkeeper Dean Kiely. Then the Portuguese teenager won a freekick after tricking Graham Stuart with brilliant footwork and Kiley needed to be sharp to keep out his curling freekick. United finally took the lead after 62 minutes. A Ryan Giggs' freekick rebounded off the wall to Gary Neville whose long range shot hit teammate Nicky Butt and bounced into the path of van Nistelrooy, who smashed a shot into the roof of the net. United lost captain Roy Keane with an ankle injury and then Charlton were down to 10 men when Jason Euell was sent off for his second yellow card after fouling Gary Neville.


Van Nistelrooy made sure of the points in the 82nd minute when he drifted in unmarked at the far post to steer home another Giggs freekick.


Ronaldo was close to producing a third goal near the end when he beat defender Radostin Kishishev and provided a perfect cross for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but the Norwegian planted his header wide of Kiely's left hand post.


The result moves United to just a point behind leaders Arsenal, who lost their 100 percent record in a 1-1 home draw with Portsmouth. Big spending Chelsea scored a 4-2 home win over Tottenham Hotspur and are two points behind Arsenal in third place.


Standings after matches played on Saturday: Premier league P W D L F A Pts 1. Arsenal 5 4 1 0 11 3 13 2. Manchester United 5 4 0 1 9 2 12 3. Chelsea 4 3 1 0 10 6 10 4. Portsmouth 5 2 3 0 8 3 9 5. Southampton 5 2 3 0 5 2 9 6. Liverpool 5 2 2 1 7 3 8 7. Manchester City 4 2 1 1 8 5 7 8. Birmingham City 3 2 1 0 2 0 7 9. Fulham 3 2 0 1 7 5 6 10. Blackburn Rovers 5 1 2 2 12 11 5 11. Leeds United 4 1 2 1 6 6 5 12. Charlton Athletic 5 1 2 2 6 7 5 13. Everton 5 1 2 2 8 10 5 14. Bolton Wanderers 5 1 2 2 4 10 5 15. Aston Villa 4 1 1 2 4 5 4 16. Tottenham Hotspur 5 1 1 3 4 9 4 17. Newcastle United 4 0 2 2 5 7 2 18. Leicester City 4 0 2 2 4 7 2 19. Middlesbrough 5 0 1 4 4 12 1 20. Wolverhampton Wanderers 5 0 1 4 1 12 1


Bureau Report