MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, April 9, (Agencies): Manchester United moved to within touching distance of a record 19th league title after a 2-0 win over Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday. Dimitar Berbatov opened the scoring in the 12th minute with his 22nd goal of the season before Antonio Valencia made it 2-0 as United opened up a 10-point lead at the top of the table after an eighth win in 11 league games. It capped a bitter-sweet day for United manager Sir Alex Ferguson after his horse, What A Friend, failed to finish the Grant National, which was taking place at the same time as this game.
With Wayne Rooney serving a two-match suspension for his expletive-laden tirade at West Ham, Berbatov started on his own in attack as Ferguson had one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final with Chelsea.

In total, the United manager made eight changes to the side that earned a 1-0 first leg lead at Stamford Bridge in midweek. Rio Ferdinand was not involved in the 16 while keeper Edwin van der Sar, Javier Hernandez and Michael Carrick were among the substitutes. Fulham has lost on all seven visits to Old Trafford since their last victory at the venue in 2003, but the mid-table visitors quickly settled as they twice tested United’s stand-in keeper Tomasz Kuszczak in the opening exchanges.

The Polish stopper kept out Gael Kakuta’s 20-yard drive in the opening minute before Kuszczak made an even smarter save to deny Moussa Dembele in the sixth minute. United had not had an effort on goal when Bobby Zamora was presented with a great opportunity to give Fulham the lead after the ball deflected into his path inside the United penalty area. However, the England international was unable to keep his composure and lashed the eighth minute effort high and wide when he should have at least tested the keeper.

It was to prove a costly miss. Four minutes later United were ahead as Berbatov demonstrated why he is the Premier League’s top scorer. There was certainly a touch of good fortune as replays showed the striker may have been off side, but there was no disputing the fact that Berbatov finished well from eight-yards after collecting a pass from the lively Nani. United failed to scale the heights of their midweek European success yet, with their noses in front, they rarely looked like allowing Fulham back in. Indeed, Ferguson’s side doubled their adavantage before half time as Fulham’s bright early opening became a distant memory. Anderson had already spurned a 19th minute opportunity to make it 2-0 when the Brazilian screwed a 16-yard attempt hopelessly wide after the visitors defence had been sliced wide open.

Fortunately for United, fellow South American Valencia was not so wasteful in the 32nd minute.
The 25-year-old, who has recently returned to action after recovering from a broken ankle, was presented with the simplest of headers two yards from goal after Nani’s attempted finish from an acute angle was deflected by Fulham defender Aaron Hughes.
In Bolton, Bolton striker Daniel Sturridge scored twice to inspire a 3-0 win over West Ham on Saturday that left Avram Grant’s side deep in relegation trouble.
Sturridge, on loan from Chelsea, put Owen Coyle’s team ahead in the early stages at the Reebok Stadium and then netted again in the second half after South Korean midfielder Lee Chung-Yong had bagged Bolton’s second goal.
The Hammers remain third bottom of the table and one point from safety. That gap could grow to four points if Blackpool beat Arsenal on Sunday.

The only bad news for Bolton is the knowledge that Sturridge, who now has six goals in eight games for Wanderers, will be absent when they face Stoke in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley next weekend as he played for Chelsea earlier in the competition.
Bolton almost got off to a perfect start after Kevin Davies picked out Sturridge in the penalty area in the third minute.
He fired in a shot that took a deflection off West Ham defender Manuel da Costa. Gary Cahill then got on the end of Martin Petrov’s corner but saw his header go wide of the post.
Bolton took the lead in the 14th minute with a superb curling strike by Sturridge after he was played in by Johan Elmander.
Davies should have added a second in the 18th minute but dragged his effort wide but a minute later Bolton got the second goal.

Everton 3, Wolves 0
In Wolverhampton, Everton added to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ relegation troubles on Saturday by cruising to a 3-0 victory in the Premier League.
Jermaine Beckford, skipper Phil Neville and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored in the first half at Molineux to keep Everton seventh in the standings.
After Everton survived an early onslaught, Beckford took advantage of slack defending to head the visitors in front with his ninth goal of the season.
Neville netted with a rising shot and Bilyaletdinov struck past goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey from 25 yards.
Wolves are second bottom of the league, a point away from safety, and manager Mick McCarthy believes three wins from their remaining six games will be enough to keep the club in the Premier League.
“We’re in the bottom three at the moment so we are not one of the best teams in the league,” McCarthy said. “But we will keep going until May 22. We’ve still got the opportunity to win three games, 50 per cent of what we’ve got left.”

Spurs 3, Stoke 2
In London, Peter Crouch put his Real Madrid misery behind him as he scored twice to help Tottenham to their first Premier League win in almost two months, Harry Redknapp’s side beating Stoke 3-2.
The England striker’s first-half double was either side of Luka Modric’s effort, but Stoke, who play Bolton in the FA Cup semi-final next week, came back twice through Matthew Etherington and Kenwyne Jones.
Crouch, who was told by Redknapp that he had forgiven him for the red card in last week’s Champions League loss to Real Madrid, was included in the starting line-up.
Crouch was partnered up front by Roman Pavlyuchenko, as Redknapp appeared to shun the European-style formation he had used earlier in the season.
After a scrappy opening period, Gareth Bale was first to test Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic, firing a 20-yard shot which was easily saved.

Chelsea 1, Wigan 0
In London, Florent Malouda gave Chelsea a hard-fought 1-0 win over Wigan on Saturday, scoring in the 67th minute as the Blues climbed into third place in the Premier League.
Malouda drove home a shot through a crowd of players for his first goal in more than three months, while Fernando Torres’ scoring drought continued after he was dropped to the bench for the second straight league game.
Torres came on for Nicolas Anelka with 30 minutes to go, and nearly got on the end of Didier Drogba’s cross but again struggled with his control at crucial moments. The Spaniard looked certain to score after Yossi Benayoun put the ball on a plate with a minute remaining but his strike was palmed behind by Ali Al Habsi.
Chelsea is now two points ahead of Manchester City in third place.
Torres may have been rested because of Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal second leg at Manchester United, and is still searching for his first goal since transferring from Liverpool for 50 million pounds.

Blackburn 1, Birmingham 1
In Blackburn, Blackburn striker Junior Hoilett punished a Liam Ridgewell blunder to earn a 1-1 draw in Saturday’s crucial relegation showdown against Birmingham at Ewood Park. Steve Kean’s side were trailing to Lee Bowyer’s first half goal when Birmingham defender Ridgewell gifted possession to Hoilett, who ran clear to stroke in the equaliser just before the break.
The draw moved both teams three points clear of the relegation zone heading into the final weeks of the season.
Rovers carved out a fine chance in the opening seconds when Hoilett threaded a pass to Jermaine Jones in the box but he slipped and the chance went begging.
In a promising start by Rovers, captain Chris Samba came close in the fifth minute when he stooped to head a Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick just wide of Ben Foster’s right-hand post.

West Brom 3, Sunderland 2
In Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion twice came from behind to ease their relegation fears with a 3-2 victory over Sunderland.
Another three points for Roy Hodgson’s side has propelled the Baggies into the top half of the table, seven points clear of the drop zone.
But the defeat was another blow for Sunderland, whose season has gone into freefall with seven losses from their last eight games.

The Black Cats, who have not won since a victory over Blackpool in January, are now being sucked into the relegation dogfight, with just six points separating them from the drop.
Sunderland looked to be on the way to halting that dismal run of form when they grabbed the lead on 10 minutes through Nicky Shorey’s own goal.
But West Brom levelled through Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie midway through the half.
Sunderland went back in front when Phil Bardsley unleashed a 31st-minute screamer to make it 2-1 but Youssouf Mulumbu restored parity on 54 minutes after a well-worked move.
As the tension mounted, West Brom took the lead on 72 minutes through Paul Scharner, the Austrian international rounding off another flowing attack to preserve the unbeaten start to the Hodgson era.
“It was a very good performance,” Hodgson said afterwards. “We conceded early on and played well to get ourselves back in the game.

“Then we went behind again from an incredible strike from Bardsley. I thought the players showed enormous character to come back from that, and I thought we were good value for our 3-2.
“The players are playing with a lot of confidence in their ability where Sunderland have just the opposite,” added Hodgson, who nevertheless believes the Black Cats will avoid the drop.
“They’re a very good team. Their players haven’t got a lot of confidence at the moment, but I’m pretty sure Sunderland will do very well in the remainder of the season. They’ve got too much character, too much quality and too well organised to be involved in a relegation battle.”