Rooney stars in Man Utd’s win over Tottenham

Wayne Rooney scored a superb solo goal, and produced just as good a celebration, as Manchester United convincingly beat Tottenham 3-0 in the Premier League to open up a six-point gap between the teams in the race for Champions League qualification.

After dribbling his way through Tottenham’s fragile defence to score United’s third goal in the 34th minute, Rooney celebrated by shaping a series of boxing punches before falling over on his back.

Goals by Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick put United 2-0 ahead after 19 minutes at Old Trafford.

Chelsea held

Earlier, Chelsea opened up a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League despite being held to a 1-1 draw against top-four hopefuls Southampton.

Diego Costa opened the scoring for Chelsea in the 11th minute with a close-range header but Southampton deservedly equalised eight minutes later through Dusan Tadic’s fortuitous penalty.

Southampton dominated for much of the opening period but Chelsea asserted their authority after the break with Costa clipping the post while John Terry was denied in a frantic finish.

Chelsea lead second-placed Manchester City, who were beaten 1-0 by struggling Burnley on Saturday, with a game in hand while Southampton are sixth, six points behind fourth-placed Manchester United.

Results:

Chelsea 1-1 Southampton

Everton 3-0 Newcastle

Man Utd 3-0 Tottenham