Manchester United beat hosts Fulham 2-1 to move nine points clear of chasing Chelsea on Saturday while Charlton thrashed West Ham in the six-pointer at the bottom of the Premiership table.

In a game that neither side could afford to lose Charlton got the better of West Ham with an impressive 4-0 mauling of the hopeless Hammers.

It was a fairly even start at The Valley until Darren Ambrose's expert finish in the middle from Marcus Bent's right-wing cross gave The Addicks the lead.

West Ham threatened to level matters but found themselves with an uphill battle thanks to further goals from Jerome Thomas and Darren Bent.

Alan Pardew's side nearly stretched their lead when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's effort crashed off the post while at the other end Carlos Tevez's free-kick was saved by Scott Carson.

Despite The Hammers improving after the break they conceded a fourth when Ambrose strode down the right before sending in the ball for Thomas to slot home at the near post.

Earlier in the day, leaders Manchester United produced the proverbial smash-and-grab raid on Fulham to extend their lead at the top of the Premiership table.

Brian McBride gave The Cottagers a deserved advantage, but a Ryan Giggs volley and last-gasp Cristiano Ronaldo strike gave The Red Devils an undeserved three-point haul.

Watford missed the chance to move ahead of West Ham after being undone 3-0 by Everton at Vicarage Road.

First half goals from Manuel Fernandes and Andy Johnson put the visitors in firm control of the tie with Leon Osman's late strike adding the icing on the cake.

Rafa Benitez's good week continued after Liverpool eased to a 4-0 success over Sheffield United on the back of their superb midweek win in Barcelona.

Liverpool were gifted the chance to open the scoring when Robert Kozluk hauled down Steven Gerrard in the box leaving referee Steve Bennett little option but to point to the spot.

Robbie Fowler did not score from the ensuing penalty until a few minutes later as Peter Crouch was stretchered off in the incident after being caught in the face by Rob Hulse's boot.

Fowler made it two-nil just five minutes later, again from the penalty spot, after Nick Montgomery hauled down Gerrard, who had cleverly got himself goal-side of the midfielder.

The Reds added a third in the second half with Sami Hyypia capitalizing on some poor defending from Jermaine Pennant's corner to drill home at the near post.

Liverpool signalled their superiority shortly after when Gerrard collected Fowler's superb flick-on before lashing a right-footed effort past Kenny into the far post.

Middlesbrough exacted revenge on Reading for their opening day defeat at The Madejski Stadium with a 2-1 win over The Royals.

The home side opened the scoring early on with Mark Viduka superbly controlling Emmanuel Pogatetz's header back across goal before back-heeling the ball past Marcus Hahnemann.

The game was wrapped up in the second half when Yakubu Aiyegbeni collected Viduka's fine pass before turning and firing a left-footed drive into the roof of the net.

John Oster did pull one back in the closing stages, but were unable to snatch a leveller as Gareth Southgate's side held on for the win.

Editor: Donald