Chelsea and Man Utd win while Arsenal crash

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON - Chelsea trounced struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 to stay five points clear of champions Manchester United at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

United kept pace with the leaders by beating Everton 3-0 in the late match at Old Trafford to move up to second place after Arsenal's 14-match unbeaten run ended with a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland.

Chelsea, who have set a club record of 12 straight home wins, have 33 points from 13 matches to United's 28. Arsenal are on 25 with a game in hand.

Carlo Ancelotti's sparkling Chelsea side were dominant from the start at Stamford Bridge, strolling to a 3-0 lead after 22 minutes with Florent Malouda opening the scoring with a left-foot shot in the fifth.

Michael Essien made it 2-0 with a 12th minute header and grabbed another 10 minutes later. Joe Cole made it 4-0 in the 56th, unleashing a low right-foot shot off a pass from Salomon Kalou for his first league goal in more than a year.

United went ahead in the 34th when Darren Fletcher smacked a swerving drive into the top left corner but had to wait until the 67th to double their tally through Michael Carrick.

Antonio Valencia made it 3-0 with a deflected shot in the 76th after the ball was laid on by Paul Scholes.

Injury-hit Liverpool and big-spending Manchester City earlier squandered their chance to move up to fourth place after battling to a 2-2 draw at Anfield in the lunchtime kick-off.