Left: ROONEY - Right: Bolton Wanderers' Ricardo Gardner (centre) battles for the ball with Zenit St. Petersburg's Jan Flachbart (left) in their UEFA Cup Group H soccer match in Bolton, northern England in November last year. Gardner provided the cross that Stelios Giannakopoulos headed into the net for Bolton to knock out defending champions Arsenal on Saturday. - REUTERS
LONDON (Reuters):
MANCHESTER UNITED completed the most satisfying week of their season yesterday when they won 3-0 at second division Wolverhampton Wanderers to ease into today's FA Cup fifth round draw.
Two goals for England midfielder Kieran Richardson, the first after five minutes, and one for Louis Saha were a fair reflection of United's dominance at Molineux.
European champions Liverpool also advanced as a Steven Gerrard penalty and a left-foot shot by John Arne Riise earned a 2-1 victory in a scrappy tie at Portsmouth.
The previous Sunday, United grabbed a last-minute Premier League win over Liverpool and on Wednesday they reached the League Cup final with a 2-1 second-leg win over Blackburn Rovers.
In the previous round of the FA Cup, a weakened United team needed a replay to get past minor league Burton Albion but this time manager Alex Ferguson selected a strong, though somewhat unbalanced team with England centre back Rio Ferdinand playing in midfield alongside Wayne Rooney.
They were in charge from the start, especially after Richardson steered home from 12 metres when the Wolves defence failed to clear a low Saha cross.
The second came in the last minute of the first half when more static central defending allowed Saha to race on to a 50-metre punt by new defender Nemanja Vidic to drive the ball past Stefan Postma.
Victory was sealed seven minutes after the restart when Park Ji-sung did well to break down the right and pull the ball back to Ruud van Nistelrooy. The Dutchman then calmly chipped across goal for the waiting Richardson to head into an empty net.
SEIZED CONTROL
After a dull opening at Fratton Park, Liverpool seized control with two goals in four minutes late in the first half.
They took a fortunate lead from the penalty spot in the 37th minute. Dejan Stefanovic swung a boot at a corner and missed, the ball bouncing up against his arm and the referee awarding a penalty which Gerrard dispatched into the bottom right corner.
There was nothing lucky about the second goal as Riise broke down the left and from a seemingly innocuous situation drove a sweetly-struck low left footer from outside the box beyond goalkeeper Dean Kiely.
Portsmouth got back into the game in the 54th minute when Sean Davis glanced in a Gary O'Neill free kick.
The goal lifted the home side, who were beaten 6-0 by fellow league strugglers Birmingham City in their last match, but they were unable to fashion an equaliser.
