London, December 24 :

Manchester United maintained its two point lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premier League at the halfway point of the season. United beat Aston Villa 3-0 on Saturday and a 90th-minute goal from Arjen Robben gave Chelsea a 3-2 win at Wigan.

United has 47 points and Chelsea 45. Ronaldo notched the 2,000th United goal under manager Alex Ferguson with his opener in the 58th minute before Paul Scholes added another five minutes later. Ronaldo sealed the win by turning in Gary Neville’s cross in the 86th.

Frank Lampard and Salomon Kalou looked set to hand Chelsea a victory after giving the Blues a 2-0 lead inside 31 minutes. Emile Heskey scored in the 45th for Wigan, then tied it with his sixth goal of the season in the 75th. Robben scored the winning goal in the third minute of injury time.

Liverpool stayed undefeated at home and remained 13 points back from United in third place, after second-half goals from Craig Bellamy and Xabi Alonso in a 2-0 win over last-place Watford.

Arsenal recovered from a goal down to crush Blackburn 6-2 and remain undefeated at Emirates Stadium this season. Gilberto Silva, Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor and Mathieu Flamini scored one goal each, while Robin van Persie added two more. Shabani Nonda scored both the Blackburn goals.

Nicolas Anelka scored twice as Bolton beat Manchester City 2-0. Newcastle moved up into 11th with a 3-1 win over Tottenham. Kieron Dyer scored in the third minute before Obafemi Martins doubled the lead seven minutes later. Spurs’ Danny Murphy pulled back one in the 15th minute before Parker scored the final in the 34th.

Portsmouth stayed in sixth place after coming from behind to beat Sheffield United 3-1. Andy Johnson and James McFadden scored to lead Everton to its second away win of the season in a 2-0 win over Reading. West Ham stayed in 18th after failing to score an away goal for the eighth consecutive game in its 0-0 draw with Fulham. Middlesbrough moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win against Charlton.