Chelsea trounced Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 to stay five points clear of champion Manchester United at the top of the Premier League Saturday. United kept pace with the leader by beating Everton 3-0 at home in the late match to move up to second after Arsenal's 14-match unbeaten run ended with a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland. Chelsea, which set a club record of 12 straight home wins, has 33 points from 13 matches to United's 28. Arsenal is on 25 with a game in hand. Carlo Ancelotti's sparkling Chelsea side was dominant from the start at Stamford Bridge, strolling into a 3-0 lead after 22 minutes with Florent Malouda opening the scoring with a left-foot shot in the fifth. Michael Essien made it 2-0 with a 12th minute header and grabbed another 10 minutes later. Joe Cole made it 4-0 in the 56th, unleashing a low, right-foot shot off a pass from Salomon Kalou for his first league goal in more than a year. Wolves stayed second from bottom. United went ahead in the 34th minute at Old Trafford when Darren Fletcher smacked a swerving half-volley into the top left corner and doubled its tally in the 67th through Michael Carrick. Antonio Valencia made it 3-0 with a deflected shot in the 76th after the ball was laid on by Paul Scholes. Injury-hit Liverpool and big-spending Manchester City squandered their chance to move up to fourth place after battling to a 2-2 draw at Anfield in the lunchtime kickoff. Sunderland had Darren Bent to thank after his 71st minute goal stunned Arsene Wenger's high-scoring Arsenal. Liverpool, in danger of going out of the Champions League next week, was forced into making two unscripted substitutions within the first 18 minutes of a scrappy first half at Anfield. Defender Daniel Agger suffered concussion and needed five stitches after collapsing with a gashed forehead in the fifth minute following a clash with Kolo Toure in the goalmouth. Ryan Babel followed him off with an ankle injury and was replaced by Yossi Benayoun, making an early return from a hamstring injury and scoring the 77th minute equalizer. City striker Emmanuel Adebayor and midfielder Stephen Ireland had put the visitors 2-1 ahead after Martin Skrtel gave Liverpool the lead five minutes into the second half. There was also plenty of action at the other end of the table, with Hull City scoring three first-half goals to come back from 2-0 down against West Ham at the KC Stadium. Hull was then reduced to 10 men in the 54th and the match ended 3-3. Aston Villa came from behind to draw 1-1 at Burnley with a goal from substitute Emile Heskey and leapfrog Tottenham Hotspur, who play at home to Wigan Athletic Sunday, in fourth place on goal difference. Birmingham City moved away from the drop zone by beating visitors Fulham 1-0. Real beats Santander Gonzalo Higuain scored a first-half goal Saturday to give Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Racing Santander in the Spanish League. The Argentina forward found the net in the 22nd minute after goalkeeper Antonio Rodriguez had failed to clear a shot from Kaka. Coach Manuel Pellegrini played Higuain alongside Karim Benzema in attack, with Raul Gonzalez starting on the bench and Cristiano Ronaldo still recovering from injury. Madrid leads with 28 points, two more than Barcelona. Earlier, Sevilla beat Tenerife 2-1 to notch 25 points and keep it in touch with the leader, while Atletico Madrid lost 2-1 to Deportivo La Coruna after an injury-time penalty to stay in the relegation zone. Balotelli helps Inter win Teenage forward Mario Balotelli responded to flak from coach Jose Mourinho by scoring to help Serie A leader Inter Milan to a 3-1 win at Bologna Saturday. Balotelli, replaced by Samuel Eto'o at halftime, headed home a corner in the 42nd minute after Bologna's Marcelo Zalayeta had cancelled out Diego Milito's opener for the champions. Esteban Cambiasso drove home a diagonal strike in the 72nd to seal a win that gives Inter 32 points from 13 games, eight more than second-placed Juventus. Promoted Parma moved up to third with 23 points courtesy of a breathtaking 3-2 victory at Fiorentina. Balotelli has been criticized several times recently for his attitude by Mourinho, who gave the 19-year-old a mark of “close to zero” for his performance in Inter's 1-1 draw with AS Roma before the international break. Balotelli, an Italian of Ghanaian descent, celebrated his goal by raising his finger to his lips and commentators on Sky TV suggested the reaction was probably in response to racist chants from a section of the home crowd. “We won well, without any problems, we deserved it,” Mourinho told Sky.
