Associated Prss

London, February 2:

Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson agree on at least one thing — Arsenal is out of the Premier League title chase. Man United ended the Gunners’ long-shot challenge on Tuesday, rallying with three second-half goals — two from Cristiano Ronaldo — to beat Arsenal 4-2 at Highbury. The victory moved Man U within eight points of league-leading Chelsea. Arsenal remained 10 behind the Blues. Chelsea can lose three of its remaining games and still win its first title in 50 years. Trailing 2-1 at halftime, Ronaldo left-footed a shot behind ’keeper Manuel Almunia in the 54th. Four minutes later, Almunia’s goalkeeping error gave the 19-year-old Portugal striker his second goal. United’s Ryan Giggs, who also scored his team’s first goal, broke deep down the right side. The Spanish ‘keeper came to the edge to challenge, but Giggs knocked the ball past him with Ronaldo tapping into an empty net.

Man U’s John O’Shea scored in the 89th, looping the ball into the net to seal the victory as Arsenal was pressing to equalise. United finished the match with 10 men after Mikael Silvestre was sent off in the 69th for head-butting Freddie Ljungberg.

Arsenal seemed in control at halftime on goals by Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp, but Ronaldo’s two strikes flattened the defending champion Gunners.

It was Arsenal’s first league defeat at home since losing to Leeds 21 months ago. It was also the most goals United has scored at Arsenal in 47 years — when the “Busby Babes” scored five in their final match on British soil before a devastating plane crash that killed eight of their players. In other games, it was: Bolton 3, Tottenham 1; Charlton 1, Liverpool 2; Portsmouth 2, Middlesbrough 1; and West Brom 2, Crystal Palace 2. Chelsea leads with 61 points, followed by Man United (53) and Arsenal (51). Everton is a distant fourth with 44.

El Hadji Diouf, Tal Ben Haim and Kevin Davies scored to lead Bolton over Tottenham 3-1.

In Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Charlton, Shaun Bartlett put Charlton ahead 1-0, but Fernando Morientes equalised to get his first goal for Liverpool. John Arne Riise scored the 79th-minute winner. Also, Aiyegbeni Yakubu notched the 58th-minute winner as Portsmouth defeated Middlesbrough 2-1, and Aki Riihilahit scored in injury time as Crystal Palace salvaged a 2-2 draw with last-place West Brom.