Rooney ends drought with hat-trick

Adjust font size:

LONDON, England -- Wayne Rooney ended his goal drought in impressive fashion, with a hat-trick in Manchester United's 4-0 win at Bolton Wanderers, which enabled them to leapfrog above Chelsea at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

Rooney had not scored since the first day of the season, but struck after 10, 16 and 89 minutes, with Cristiano Ronaldo also netting as United inflicted a first home defeat on Bolton.

Wanderers had not previously conceded a goal at the Reebok this season.

United are on 25 points, leading on goal difference from Chelsea, who won 2-0 at Sheffield United earlier on Saturday.

Bolton are third on 20 with Portsmouth up to fourth on 19 after a 3-1 home triumph over Reading.

England striker Rooney had gone 10 games without scoring but that run ended in the 10th minute at the Reebok Stadium when he shot past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Six minutes later Rooney, 21 earlier this week, doubled United's lead over their third-placed opponents with a brilliant curling shot.

Cristiano Ronaldo shot into an empty net eight minutes from time before Rooney completed his treble two minutes from the end.

"It was a fantastic result for us, in the first 25 minutes we could have been four up," United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports. "It was great football, I really enjoyed it."

Of Rooney's goalscoring return he said: "He was due to score at some point, the longer these things go on with strikers they begin to doubt things but you saw as soon as he scored his confidence went up."

Aston Villa, a transformed team this season under new manager Martin O'Neill, were brought down to earth with a 3-1 loss at Liverpool.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez found himself under pressure after defeat by Manchester United last weekend appeared to end his club's title hopes.

But that did not stop the Spaniard changing his starting line-up for the 99th consecutive match.

Benitez's men went ahead in the 31st minute through Dirk Kuyt's volley and seven minutes later former Villa striker Peter Crouch made it 2-0 by turning in Steve Finnan's cross.

Crouch set up Luis Garcia for a third before the break and Gabriel Agbonlahor pulled one back for Villa in the 56th minute.

Lost ground

Arsenal, who started Saturday five points behind the leaders with a game in hand, lost ground when they were held 1-1 at home by Everton.

The Gunners fell behind in the 11th minute when Australia midfielder Tim Cahill scored from Mikel Arteta's cross.

Robin van Persie fired in a 71st minute equalizer to give the Londoners a point.

Portsmouth were impressive 3-1 winners at home to Reading. They went ahead when Pedro Mendes's 10th minute corner was headed into his own net by Brynjar Gunnarsson.

Nwankwo Kanu headed in his seventh goal of the season early in the second-half and drove in a 66th minute volley before Kevin Doyle gave Reading a consolation..

Tottenham again disappointed as they were held 0-0 at Watford. The home team, still looking for their first Premiership win found the net on the stroke of half-time, but Ashley Young's effort was controversially disallowed for offside.

Wigan won 1-0 at Fulham through Henri Camara's 83rd minute goal after Denny Landzaat's second-half penalty clipped the Fulham crossbar.

.

Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

---

• Neighbor: Shoeless Tiger Woods snored on lawn
• Amnesia patient's brain dissected
• Climate change threatens life in Alaska
• Cashmore: 10 Web trends to watch in 2010
• Philippine massacre suspect's home searched

• Irish PM to quit over payments scandal
• NATO chief: Afghan troop increase likely
• Militants hunted as calm retuns to Basra
• Pressure on Bush to skip Olympics
• BA sending misplaced T5 baggage to Milan

• Recruiting suicide bombers (2:50)
• London was lucky (2:36)
• Cars in London rigged as bombs (3:48)
• Second explosives-packed car foun (2:32)
• Soviet culture returns (3:47)