Rooney leads the way for United

Wayne Rooney scored all 4 goals at Old Trafford as Manchester United eased past Hull City in the only Premier League match of the weekend as many other teams were busy with FA Cup ties with Arsenal being the biggest casualties of the 4th round losing 3-1 at Stoke. Among other matches Everton lost 2-1 at home to Birmingham and Newcastle fell 4-2 at West Bromwich Albion, while Jermaine Beckford scored both goals for Leeds as they earned a home replay against Tottenham. In the Milan derby Inter ended the match with 9 men but were 2-0 winners against Milan who missed a penalty through Ronaldinho in stoppage time.
In midweek Liverpool drew blanks at Wolves while Crouch and Bentley got the goals for Tottenham who were entertaining Fulham. Frank Lampard scored twice at the Bridge as Chelsea defeated Birmingham 3-0 to go top, ahead of Arsenal who drew 0-0 at Aston Villa, and Manchester United who were playing the return leg of the Carling Cup semi-final where Rooney scored the decisive goal in stoppage time to give United a 3-1 win over Manchester City and take them to the Wembley final with a 4-3 aggregate win.

Gunning above the magnificent seven

Chelsea demolished Sunderland 7-2 at the Bridge but lost top spot to Arsenal who won 2-0 at Bolton, before returning home to fight back from 2 down and defeat the same team 4-2 in midweek. Manchester United kept up the pressure by winning 3-0 at home to Wigan, but lost the first leg of their Calring Cup semi-final 2-1 (with a brace from Tevez) away to City who had earlier lost 2-0 at home to Everton in the league. In the other semi-final Aston Villa took a 1-0 lead from the first leg but fell 2-0 to Blackburn before fighting back to win an unforgettable match 6-4 and reach Wembley where they will meet the winners of the Manchester derby.

Chelsea enjoy snow break

With the English Premier League fixture list decimated by severe weather conditions, league leaders Chelsea whose match at Hull was postponed watched their nearest rivals drop points as Manchester United drew 1-1 at Birmingham, while in the only other match to be played at the weekend Arsenal needed a last gasp goal to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Everton. Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick on Monday in Manchester as City buried Blackburn 4-1 to move into 4th place. Reading who had earned a replay at Liverpool celebrated a famous 2-1 win at Anfield knocking the Reds out of the FA Cup in extra time.
In the Spanish cup Zigic scored twice for Valencia in their 2-2 draw at Deportivo La Coruna and Barcelona won 1-0 at Sevilla but both teams were knocked oput as a result of their 2-1 home defeats.

Early cup exit for Man Utd

Leeds United rose to the occasion at Old Trafford to knock Manchester United out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round, with a goal from Jermaine Beckford in the first half. Liverpool will need a replay after their 1-1 draw at Reading while Arsenal progressed to the next round with 2 goals in the 2nd half after going a goal down at West Ham. Aston Villa are also through, winning 3-1 at home to Blackburn.
In Spain Barcelona and Valencia both suffered 2-1 home defeats in their first leg Copa del Rey matches against Sevilla and Deportiva la Coruna respectively.
Both midweek Carling Cup semi-final matches in England were postponed due to severe weather conditions.