Arsenal romp, pass Man U for second

Arsenal romped to a 4-1 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers to move into second place in the Premier League while Manchester City's hopes of threatening the top four were hit by a fifth consecutive draw.

City drew 3-3 with Burnley after having battled back from a two-goal deficit to lead with three minutes remaining.

Tottenham Hotspur moved back into the top four, above City, with a 2-0 home defeat of Sunderland after two consecutive losses while Aston Villa climbed to fifth with a 5-1 hammering of Bolton Wanderers at Villa Park.

Portsmouth remain bottom of the table after losing 3-1 at fellow strugglers Blackburn Rovers.

Arsenal were helped by own goals from Ronald Zubar and Jody Craddock while Andrei Arshavin's finish made the second half academic. Cesc Fabregas bagged his ninth goal of the season after the break before Craddock scored a late consolation.

Manchester City looked to have sealed the points when goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips, Kolo Toure and Craig Bellamy wiped out Burnley's 2-0 lead but Kevin McDonald struck late to earn the visitors their first away point this season.

"It's fair to say we were disappointed with our first half performance," City manager Mark Hughes, who spent nearly Stg100 million ($NZ233.5 million) in pre-season, told Sky Sports.

"We put in a huge effort to get our noses in front and we should have seen the game out. There are things we need to look and things we need to address."

City, who last won a league game in September, fell to sixth on 20 points, Villa have 21 while Tottenham are on 22. Arsenal have 25, the same as champions Manchester United but have a much superior goal difference.

United face leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Sunderland could count themselves unlucky to lose at Tottenham, dominating the game for long periods.

Robbie Keane gave Tottenham and early lead but were hanging on to that slender advantage when their former striker Darren Bent was brought down by goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes to earn a penalty, only to have it saved by the Brazilian who was fortunate to still be on the pitch.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce bemoaned his side's luck.

"Anybody who witnessed that today will know that we should have got something," he told Sky. "We were terrific.

"In my opinion Gomes should have been sent off because he denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. That was the turning point. We missed the penalty and they should be down to 10."

Tom Huddlestone wrapped up the points when he blasted a shot past Sunderland's substitute keeper Marton Fulop, one of five former Tottenham players in action for the visitors.

- Reuters