Manchester United in a different league

Norwegian striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer bagged the third on the half hour for the defending champions following goodwork by Beckham and Roy Keane. Southampton recovered well after the break and Latvian international Marian Pahars scored a fine consolation after a mazy run on 83 minutes.

A delighted Ferguson said: “The great thing for me has been the way the players forgot about last season’s treble immediately and got on with the job straightaway.

Fifth-placed Chelsea, like United looking to shake off their European hangover and poach a place in the Champions League next season, could only manage a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge against Middlesbrough.

Gustavo Poyet headed the Londoners into a 10th minute lead but slack defending let in Boro’s Colombian star Hamilton Ricard to level eight minutes before the break with his 14th goal of the season.

Gianluca Vialli’s decision to substitute crowd favourite Gianfranco Zola in the second half was greeted with a chorus of booing from the Chelsea faithful but the charismatic Italian remained defiant.

"I’m the boss," said Vialli. “I make my decisions without taking notice of what the supporters think.

Vialli admitted Manchester United, were “in a different league” but still insisted Chelsea will be going to Old Trafford on Sunday to spoil their Premiership title party.

At the other end of the table Sheffield Wednesday, buoyed by two straight wins, failed to build on that brief recovery when they lost 2-0 to Sunderland at Hillsborough. England striker Kevin Phillips scored both goals in the final four minutes.

Fourth-bottom Wimbledon are still clinging on for dearlife, however, following a seventh straight defeat, 2-0, at Tottenham. Chris Armstrong and Darren Anderton were on target in the first half for Spurs.

Elsewhere, Aston Villa saw their challenge for a topfive finish falter with a 2-2 draw at home to Leicester.

Berlin closer to League berth

BERLIN: Hertha Berlin’s 1-0 victory at relegation-threatened SSV Ulm brought the club nearer to qualifying for a second consecutive appearance in the European Champions League.

Berlin, eliminated in the Champions League second phase this season, jumped in to the last qualifying spot in fourth place thanks to defender Marko Rehmer in the 51st minute. At the other end of the table, bottom club MSV Duisburgwere relegated following a 3-1 win at home to Hansa Rostock.

1860 Munich, fourth at the start of the day, could only draw 1-1 at home to VFB Stuttgart to drop to fifth a point behind Berlin.

Bayer Leverkusen underlined their stranglehold on theGerman first division title race on Thursday with a 3-1 win at Werder Bremen.

Barca keep up pressure

MADRID: Barcelona beat Sevilla 2-0 to maintain the pressure on Spanish league leaders Deportivo la Coruna. Saturday’s victory moved the Catalan club up to second place on 59 points with four games left — two points behind Deportivo.

Real Zaragoza moved up to third place after a 2-1 win at lowly Numancia, who are fighting to avoid relegation, and kept Zaragoza in the chase for the title.

Real madrid lost 4-2 to racing santander to drift back to fourthplace with 56 points.

Racing’s remarkable away win eased their own fears of seconddivision soccer next season.

Barcelona looked less than impressive a Sevilla side fighting for First Division survival but who still had enough class to get three points.

A Patrick Kluivert goal after 19 minutes put Barcelona a head and any chance of an upset was avoided with a diving header from Finn Jari Litmanen in the final minute.

However, the midweek Champions League conquerors of Chelsea seemed slack in defence early on and Sevilla’s Juan Carlos Gomez missed three clear opportunities in the first 20 minutes.

Zaragoza’s two goals came in the first six minutes from Yordi Gonzalez. Numancia were only able to pull one back on the stroke of halftime through an Ivan rocha penalty.

Both sides pressed hard throughout the second half but were hampered by torrential rain and a waterlogged pitch.

Atletico Madrid went down 2-0 at Valencia to goals from Claudio Lopez and Miguel Angel Angulo.

The defeat makes second division soccer for the first time since 1934 an increasing possibility for Atletico, who won the Spanish League and Cup double as recently as 1996.

They lie in the penultimate spot in the first division andthe gap with the teams above them is gradually widening.