LONDON (AP) - Manchester United maintained its three-point lead over Chelsea at the top of the English Premier League on Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Everton.
The Blues also won - beating Bolton 1-0 at the Reebok Stadium. But Arsenal suffered its fourth loss away from home, falling 2-1 to Fulham and finishing with 10 men. Manchester City beat Aston Villa 3-1 for its first away win of the season and Liverpool and Portsmouth drew 0-0.
The victory gave Manchester United 38 points, followed by Chelsea with 35, Bolton and Portsmouth with 24. Aston Villa remained fifth with 23, with Arsenal in sixth with 22.
Cristiano Ronaldo put Manchester United ahead in the 38th minute, converting when an attempt by Michael Carrick was cleared by Everton defender Nuno Valente. Patrice Evra made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute and defender John O'Shea scored United's third in the 89th.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson rested Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Louis Saha for the match, which came four days after a 1-1 draw with two-time defending champion Chelsea.
Ferguson denied a rift with Giggs, who didn't dress for the match on the winger's 33rd birthday.
"We cannot expect him to keep running up and down the touchline all the time," Ferguson said. "He is 33 now, we have to look after the older members of the species."
Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard watched the match from the stands due to English league rules that prohibit loaned players from competing against the club that owns their contract.
The teams were captained by brothers - Gary Neville for United and Phil Neville - a former Red Devil - for Everton.
Michael Ballack scored in the 45th minute against a Bolton team with only one change from the side that beat Arsenal 3-1 on Saturday. Defender Ivan Campo came in for Quinton Fortune.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was content to take four points from two games in England's northwest.
"We are not top of the league. We want to be there all the time but we had two very difficult matches," Mourinho said. "If you do it wrong you can leave Old Trafford with six points (deficit) and Bolton maybe nine points. I don't think we will take a lot of time to be top of the league."
Ballack scored at the near post from a Frank Lampard corner.
Brian McBride gave Fulham the lead in the sixth minute, heading in Claus Jensen's corner kick. It was 2-0 in the 19th when Luis Boa Morte got past Arsenal defenders Justin Hoyte and Alexander Song to cross for Tomasz Radzinski to score.
Robin van Persie scored for the Gunners with a 30-meter drive into the top corner in the 36th minute. Arsenal had defender Philippe Senderos sent off in the 66th minute with a second yellow card.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger rested several first-team regulars - keeping in mind Saturday's north London derby against Tottenham and next week's European Champions League trip to Porto.
He refused to concede the English title despite trailing by 16 points.
"I will leave the mathematics of the title to you," Wenger said. "We will now go away and focus on the next game."
Portsmouth's defense held firm at Anfield - a place where it hasn't won for 55 years - and Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez accused the visitors of delay tactics.
"In the first half we had control and possession, but in the second period with all that time-wasting we got nervous and started making mistakes," Benitez said.
Liverpool could have moved into the top four, but climbed two places to seventh, with 22 points.
Manchester City led 2-0 at Villa Park with goals from Darius Vassell in the 18th minute and Joey Barton in the 32nd
Watched by new owner Randy Lerner - who also controls the Cleveland Browns American gridiron team - Gavin McCann pulled Aston Villa within a goal in the 66th, but Sylvain Distin restored City's advantage in the 75th and become the first club to win at Villa Park this season.
"I think Mr. Lerner has seen a number of our games now," Villa manager Martin O'Neill said. "He has watched us do well and not so cleverly. He will be disappointed but he knows what needs to be done."
In the Football League Championship, Derby beat Ispwich 2-1 and Southampton defeated Birmingham 4-3.
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