Man United whitewash Portsmouth 5-0

Manchester United dismantled strugglers Portsmouth 5-0 in the English Premier League on Saturday.

Man. United go to the top with 56 points after the win.

Manchester City's run for a top four position was halted as they lost 2-1 at relegation-threatened Hull.

At Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney headed in from close range from Darren Fletcher's cross and Portsmouth defender Anthony Vanden Borre turned in Nani's attempted cross just before halftime.

After the break, Michael Carrick's shot deflected in off Richard Hughes before Dimitar Berbatov tormented the Pompey defense and fired home the fourth. Mark Wilson became the third Pompey player to score an own goal to round off the miserable day for the visitors.

United's crosstown rival City slumped to its first loss since Roberto Mancini replaced Mark Hughes as manager in December as Hull climbed out of the relegation zone.

United States forward Jozy Altidore scored his first Premier League goal at his 18th game and George Boateng volleyed in Hull's second. Emmanuel Adebayor's goal for City wasn't enough to spark a comeback.

In other matches, Liverpool maintained its push for a Champions League place by beating Everton 1-0 in the Merseyside derby.

Burnley climbed out of the relegation zone and sent West Ham back into the bottom three with a 2-1 victory over the east London club.

Bolton is just one point above West Ham after drawing 0-0 with Fulham and Bolton is a further point ahead after holding Sunderland to a 1-1 draw.

Tottenham was held to a 0-0 draw by Aston Villa in a late match.

Source: Xinhua