Steven Gerrard scored a hat trick as Liverpool thumped Aston Villa 5-0 at Anfield and closed the gap on Premier League leader Manchester United to one point on Sunday. Two of his three goals came from penalties with Dirk Kuyt and Albert Riera adding the others as Liverpool wrapped up the points by going 3-0 ahead by halftime. Villa was reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Brad Friedel was sent off after 64 minutes for bringing down Fernando Torres. The win took Liverpool to 64 points from 30 matches, one point behind United, which lost 2-0 at Fulham on Saturday but which has a match in hand. Chelsea, beaten 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, slipped back to third on 61 points from its 30 games. In Sunday's other matches, Wigan Athletic climbed from 10th to seventh with an 84th minute goal from Ben Watson giving it a 1-0 win over Hull City. Manchester City also moved up with a 1-0 win over Sunderland at Eastlands where Robinho missed a first-half penalty. Barca hits Malaga for six In Madrid, Barcelona demolished Malaga 6-0 at the Nou Camp with an irresistible display of attacking football that re-established its six-point lead at the top of the Primera Liga on Sunday. Samuel Eto'o scored twice, taking his league tally for the season to 25, while Xavi, Thierry Henry, Daniel Alves and Lionel Messi weighed in with one apiece against their overly cautious visitors. The leaders have 69 points with 10 matches left to play, six ahead of chasing Real Madrid, which was earlier led to a 3-0 victory at home to Almeria by two-goal Klaas Jan Huntelaar. Sevilla is third with 54 points and Villarreal fourth with 48. Ten-man Valencia won 1-0 Racing Santander. Valencia is sixth with 43 points behind Atletico Madrid on goal difference. Atletico lost 2-0 at struggling Real Mallorca. Also Sunday, it was: Deportivo La Coruna 1, Real Betis 1; Getafe 2, Recreativo Huelva 1; Osasuna 1, Espanyol 0; and Numancia 2, Sporting Gijon 1. Inter routs Reggina In Rome, Zlatan Ibrahimovic again scored two goals to help Inter Milan restore its seven-point lead at the top of Serie A with a 3-0 win over last-place Reggina on Sunday. Inter leads the league with 69 points with nine games remaining, followed by Juventus with 62. AC Milan, which drew 0-0 at Napoli, is third with 55 points. In the race for fourth place and the final Champions League place, Genoa and Fiorentina both won. Genoa beat 10-man Udinese with goals from Giuseppe Sculli and Diego Milito. Adrian Mutu scored his first goal in a month for Fiorentina, which beat Siena 1-0 in a Tuscan derby. Genoa currently holds the coveted fourth place with 51 points, followed by Fiorentina with 49 and Roma with 46. Also, it was: Bologna 0, Cagliari 1; Chievo Verona 1, Palermo 0; Lecce 2, Atalanta 2; and Torino 1, Sampdoria 3.
