Manchester United took advantage of Chelsea's inactivity Saturday to reclaim top spot in the Premier League, Paul Scholes clinching a 1-0 victory at struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers. The champion, without in-form striker Wayne Rooney, labored at Molineux but Scholes pounced after 73 minutes to put United on 63 points, two ahead of Chelsea which is in FA Cup action Sunday. Scholes's effort was his 100th Premier League goal. Arsenal also turned up the heat on Chelsea, beating Burnley 3-1 at the Emirates to move level on 61 points with Carlo Ancelotti's side. But for wayward finishing by Nicklas Bendtner the Gunners would have gone second on goal difference. As it was, goals by Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Andrei Arshavin were enough to leave Burnley mired in the relegation zone having managed just one point on the road this season. Burnley seemed content to sit deep and allow Arsenal to do all its neat passing in front of it. The onus was on Walcott to find a way through and show himself worthy of a place in England's World Cup squad but though the winger had some early success against his full back he failed to provide much in the way of convertible crosses. Instead it was the eye-of-a-needle passing of Fabregas and Samir Nasri that eventually opened the massed Burnley ranks and enabled the Spaniard to cleverly tuck in the opener after 34 minutes. Fabregas limped off a few minutes later with a hamstring strain and manager Arsene Wenger said he would not know until Sunday whether it would rule the midfielder out of Tuesday's Champions League game against Porto. Arsenal paid for its profligacy when David Nugent was given space to run through the middle and lift the ball over keeper Manuel Almunia five minutes into the second half. Walcott restored the lead 10 minutes later with a well-taken curling shot but while the fans sat back to await a goal rush, the misses left them nervous before Arshavin finally killed it off in stoppage time. With an easier-looking run-in than either of its two rivals, Arsenal remains in the hunt for its first title success since 2004. Bolton Wanderers collected a welcome first away win since September when it triumphed 2-1 at West Ham United to edge further clear of the relegation zone. In FA Cup action, Frederic Piquionne scored twice in four minutes to give Portsmouth 2-0 win over Birmingham as the club reached the last four. But the visitors were unhappy that referee Steve Bennett ruled out a goal which TV replays showed crossed the line. By coincidence, it happened on the day that the International Football Association Board ruled out any more experiments with goal-line technology to decide such incidents. Fulham and Tottenham fought out a 0-0 draw at Craven Cottage in a quarterfinal of few clear-cut chances.
