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Man United routed bottom of the pile Portsmouth 5-0 at Old Trafford to go top of the table for a day at the very least. Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov were the only United goal scorers at Old Trafford, with Pompey doing themselves no favour by putting an amazing 3 goals into their own net.

Manchester United started with Dimitar Berbatov and the in-form Wayne Rooney in a two pronged attack, with Antonio Valencia and Nani deployed on the wings. Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick formed the all British central midfield partnership. With Nemanja Vidic injured and Rio Ferdinand banned, Jonny Evans and Wes Brown continued at the centre of defence. For Portsmouth, it was a debut for new signing Ricardo Rocha, with Fredric Piquionne and Danny Webber starting in attack.

As expected, United dominated possession with the first chance falling to Jonny Evans from a corner in the 11th minute. But the youngster's effort went the wrong side of the far post. United kept the ball for most of the first half an hour, but the best chance of the match till then fell to Portsmouth in the 34th minute. Algerian international Nadir Belhadj, who scored against Liverpool earlier this season, was put through on goal by Jamie O'Hara but his shot was cleared off the line by Evans.

A minute later Berbatov missed a gilt-edged opportunity from just a few yards out after being set up by recalled skipper Gary Neville. But Rooney didn't miss 5 minutes later when he headed in Fletcher's cross from close range to put United ahead. This was the Englishman's 23rd goal of the season.

It took United 40 minutes to break down the door to the Pompey defence, and as it happens so often in games between sides which are poles apart, it opened the floodgates for United. Sir Alex Ferguson's side were 2-0 ahead in first half stoppage time when Nani's effort took a double deflection, first off Anthony Vanden Borre and then Pompey keeper David James. The unfortunate Belgian was credited with the goal.

United had a great chance to go three ahead in the 55th minute, but James made a great save from Valencia from close range. But four minutes later it was 3-0 to the home side as Carrick's long range effort deflected off Richard Hughes before flying into the back of the net to seal the points for Man United.

United were running riot by now with Berbatov next to find the net in the 62nd minute. The Bulgarian finished expertly from the edge of the Pompey box with the Portsmouth players backing off allowing him time and space to pick a spot.

United made a triple substitution with 25 minutes left in the game attempting to give some of their squad players a bit of a look in, but it was Portsmouth defender Marc Wilson who was the next player on United's score sheet when he put a Patrice Evra cross into his own net in the 69th minute.

That was the last of the goals as United ran out easy 5-0 winners to knock Chelsea off top spot. Now the ball is clearly in Chelsea's court as they take on Arsenal in a huge London derby tomorrow.

There was a huge shock in the Premiership today with Hull City following up their midweek home draw with Chelsea with a win against Champions League aspirants Manchester City. Goals from Jozy Altidore and George Boateng in the 31st and 54th minute respectively put the home side two ahead before a close range finish from Emmanuel Adebayor made the game interesting for the last half hour. In the end Hull's brave resistance paid off, and they were good value for their win. The result pulled the relegation threatened club up four places into 14th in the League.

In a real relegation six-pointer at Turf Moor, Brian Laws registered his first win as manager of Burnley, beating West Ham 2-1 to also move out of the relegation zone. Like Hull, Burnley jumped 4 places in the table from 19th to 15th thanks to goals from David Nugent and new signing Danny Fox. West Ham slide back into the bottom three due to this result, but will take heart from the fact that their goal difference is the best amongst the seven clubs involved in the relegation dog fight.

Elsewhere, there was a huge 3-0 win for Stoke at home to Blackburn. and Sunderland - Wigan and Bolton - Fulham played out a couple of draws. Earlier in the day a close range header by Dirk Kuyt from a Steven Gerrard corner had given Liverpool all three points in the Merseyside derby.

Final Scores:

Manchester United 5-0 Portsmouth
Bolton 0-0 Fulham
Hull City 2-1 Manchester City
Burnley 2-1 West Ham
Stoke 3-0 Blackburn
Sunderland 1-1 Wigan
Liverpool 1-0 Everton (read match report)

File Photograph Copyright: Barry Zee