Manchester United is one step away from winning the English Premiership trophy after they had a 1-0 win over Manchester City on Saturday.

Cristiano Ronaldo had a penalty 11 minutes before half time to seal the victory, which put the team eight points clear of holders Chelsea. Chelsea must now beat Arsenal on Sunday to keep alive their slim hopes of a third successive championships.

Anything less and United will go to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea on Wednesday as champions.

At the other end of the table, West Ham moved out of the bottom three with a 3-1 win over Bolton, while Fulham are almost certainly safe after beating Liverpool 1-0 but Wigan are in the relegation zone after losing 1-0 at home to Middlesbrough.

Wigan Athletic though, slipped into the bottom three for the first time this season - and three points adrift - after losing 1-0 at home to Middlesbrough, their eighth successive match without a win. Mark Viduka scored the only goal in the 29th minute.

Fulham moved up to 15th after their 1-0 win over Champions League finalists Liverpool at Craven Cottage with American substitute Clint Dempsey scoring the goal after 69 minutes.

Sheffield United failed to ease their relegation worries as a 3-0 defeat at Aston Villa left them 16th, level on 38 points with West Ham.

Everton moved up to fifth and effectively secured a place in next season's UEFA Cup with a 3-0 home win over fellow hopefuls Portsmouth while Reading's hopes of a first European place took a knock with a surprise 2-0 home defeat by relegated Watford.

Blackburn Rovers stayed in contention for a UEFA Cup place with a 2-0 win at Newcastle United where fit-again Michael Owen made his first home appearance since December 2005.
 
(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2007)