Rooney and Ronaldo keep United top

LONDON, England -- Second half goals from Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo kept Manchester United at the top of the English Premier League as the reigning champions scored a 2-0 win over Reading on Saturday.

Rooney's 77th minute strike and Ronaldo's 23rd of the season, 17 in the league, on the final whistle proved vital as nearest challengers Arsenal won 3-0 at relegation strugglers Fulham and Chelsea also squeezed out a 1-0 victory at Birmingham.

Reading played their part in an entertaining match at their Madejski Stadium and often troubled United, but Rooney provided a vital breakthrough and as the home side searched desperately for an equalizer, Ronaldo sealed the three points.

It took a moment of magic from Argentine Carlos Tevez to supply a killing pass for Rooney to score his sixth league goal of the season while Reading's Kevin Doyle went close with a header before Ronaldo scored on a breakaway.

United manager Alex Ferguson was relieved by the late strikes:

"Considering the number of opportunities we had, maybe our decision-making in the final third of the field wasn't at its best.

"We kept making chances, but you do start to worry when the game goes on and you haven't scored.

"Credit to Reading, they keep going at you all the time and I think that's an important result for us," he said.

Arsenal were always in command at Craven Cottage with Emmanuel Adebayor putting them 2-0 ahead by half-time with a double. Tomas Rosicky scored a third to leave Roy Hodgson's men five points adrift of safety in second bottom.

Chelsea had Petr Cech to thank for their win at St Andrews, the Czech goalkeeper making some fine saves before Claudio Pizarro scored in the 79th minute following a corner to give the visitors a fortunate three points.

The fine headed effort from the Peruvian was his first in 23 games.

United lead the standings on goal difference from Arsenal with both having 54 points. Chelsea are four points adrift.

Elsewhere, Blackburn's three-match winning run came to an end when they were held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Middlesbrough.

David Wheater headed in a Stewart Downing free-kick in the 13th minute to give Boro a deserved lead. But Matt Derbyshire equalized with quarter of an hour left to salvage a point for the home side.

Zimbabwe's Benjani Mwaruwari scored a hat-trick as Portsmouth came from behind to beat bottom side Derby 3-1, while Tottenham's climb up the table under new boss Juande Ramos continued with a 2-0 win over Sunderland that leaves Roy Keane's side mired in the relegation zone.

Aaron Lennon gave the home side an early goal and other chances followed to make the game safe.

But Sunderland fought back in the second half and were unlucky not to at least equalize before substitute Robbie Keane made sure of all three points by firing in his 100th goal for Tottenham. E-mail to a friend