Manchester, Oct 05: Manchester United beat 10-man Birmingham City 3-0. Manchester United stayed one point behind Arsenal in the English premier league with a 3-0 home victory over Birmingham City on Saturday (October 4). City goalkeeper Maik Taylor brought Paul Scholes down in the penalty area, getting sent off and leaving substitute 'keeper Ian Bennett to dive the wrong way when Ruud van Nistelrooy took the resulting penalty. The goal made Nistelrooy the league's leading scorer, with eight goals this season. City started well in the second half, in spite of only having 10 men -- Stan Lazaridis having gone off when Bennett came on -- but a Jamie Clapham shot went straight at United goalkeeper Tim Howard.
Paul Scholes then made it 2-0 when he latched onto a Phil Neville pass and turned quickly to shoot low into the net.
United substitute Diego Forlan later put Ryan Giggs through and his shot across the goal went into the corner.



Results of English premier league soccer matches played on Saturday: Fulham 2 Leicester City 0 Leeds United 2 Blackburn Rovers 1 Liverpool 1 Arsenal 2 Manchester United 3 Birmingham City 0 Newcastle United 1 Southampton 0 Portsmouth 1 Charlton Athletic 2 Tottenham Hotspur 3 Everton 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Manchester City 0



Playing on Sunday Aston Villa v Bolton Wanderers (1505 GMT) Middlesbrough v Chelsea (1300)



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



Leading scorers in the English premier league after Saturday's matches: 8 - Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) 7 - Michael Owen (Liverpool) 6 - Nicolas Anelka (Manchester City), James Beattie (Southampton), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Alan Shearer (Newcastle United), Teddy Sheringham (Portsmouth) 5 - Andy Cole (Blackburn Rovers), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Chelsea), Steve Watson (Everton), Luis Boa Morte (Fulham) 4 - Frederic Kanoute (Tottenham Hotspur), Adrian Mutu (Chelsea), Louis Saha (Fulham), Kevin Lisbie (Charlton Athletic) 3 - Jason Euell (Charlton Athletic), Barry Hayles (Fulham), Sylvain Wiltord (Arsenal), Mikael Forsell (Birmingham City), Juan Pablo Angel (Aston Villa), Paul Dickov (Leicester City), Harry Kewell (Liverpool), Kevin Davies (Bolton Wanderers), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Paul Scholes (Manchester United), Shaun Bartlett (Charlton Athletic)


Bureau Report