Aston Villa's Gareth Barry (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's fourth goal against Chelsea during their Premier League match at Stamford Bridge yesterday. The game ended 4-4. - Reuters

LONDON (AP):

MANCHESTER UNITED climbed atop the English Premier League yesterday, winning 4-0 at Sunderland while Arsenal drew 0-0 at Portsmouth.

United's fifth straight win gave them 45 points, followed by Arsenal (44), Chelsea (38), Liverpool (36) and Manchester City (34).

It's the first time this league season that Arsenal were held without a goal - stymied by a Portsmouth defence led by former Gunner Sol Campbell. Aston Villa scored a late equaliser to draw 4-4 at Chelsea in a game that had three players sent off. Louis Saha scored twice, with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo adding one each against Sunderland, who are coached by former Red Devil Roy Keane.

Aston Villa saved a point in injury time, getting a penalty kick from Gareth Barry after Ashley Cole was sent off for a handball. Cole followed Villa's Zat Knight and Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho in being ejected.

Red cards also featured several other matches.

Yellow card

Ten-man Reading rallied to draw 1-1 at West Ham and Tottenham beat Fulham 5-1 with two goals each from Robbie Keane and Tom Huddlestone. Fulham's Moritz Volz was sent off in the 87th with a second yellow card.

Also yesterday it was: Derby 1, Liverpool 2; Birmingham 3, Middlesbrough 0; Everton 2; Bolton 0; Wigan 1; Newcastle 0. Manchester City host Blackburn today.

Rooney put United ahead in the 20th minute with a goal from 18 metres, then set up Saha to extend the lead with a volley in the 30th. Ronaldo scored on a free kick to make it 3-0 in the 45th, before Saha added his second with a penalty kick in the 86th.

Chelsea's streak continues

Chelsea extended their unbeaten streak in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge to 72 matches as Villa failed to repeat their 2-0 home win over the Blues in the league earlier this season.

Shaun Maloney put Villa ahead in the 14th minute, taking a header from John Carew to score past goalkeeper Petr Cech, who started despite bruising his side and hip in Sunday's 1-0 win over Blackburn.

Maloney doubled Villa's lead in the 44th after Cech fumbled his shot.

Andriy Shevchenko converted a penalty kick in the 45th after Knight was sent off for a challenge on Michael Ballack, and then equalised with a powerful shot from 20m in the 50th.

Alex took a pass from Shevchenko to score in the 66th, before Martin Laursen equalised in the 72nd with a volley from a free kick by Ashley Young.

Carvalho was sent off in the 80th for a lunge on Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Ballack, who entered when Frank Lampard limped off with a leg injury in the first half, thought he'd scored the winner with a free kick in the 88th only for Villa to equalise again with the penalty.

"We deserved nothing less than a draw," Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill said. "We were terrific. We never gave up and came back from the dead twice."

Tottenham registered their biggest league win of the season. Robbie Keane scored in the 27th on a rebound after Steed Malbranque's shot hit the post and then took a header from Dimitar Berbatov in the 62nd to score his 100th Premier League goal. Huddlestone had goals in the 45th and 71st, with Jermain Defoe rounding off the win in the 90th. Clint Dempsey scored off his own rebound in the 60th for Fulham, which is playing under caretaker manager Ray Lewington after Lawrie Sanchez was fired on Friday.

Fitness regime paying off

Tottenham manager Juande Ramos, who took over on October 27, said his new fitness regime was paying dividends.

"We are happy that the team has players that have slimmed down - they are obviously a lot lighter now," Ramos said, referring to Huddlestone in particular. "The team appreciates this because we needed this to happen."

Liverpool needed an injury-time goal from Steven Gerrard to beat a stubborn Derby 2-1.

Fernando Torres put Liverpool ahead in the 12th minute, curling a shot past Derby goalkeeper Lewis Price, who was making his first league appearance of the season because of an injury to Stephen Bywater.

But Jay McEveley leveled for Derby in the 67th after taking a free kick from Eddie Lewis, prompting a frantic press from Liverpool at the end of the game.

Liverpool had beaten Derby 6-0 earlier in the season.