Manchester United cut Arsenal's lead at the top of the Premiership table to three points with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday.

United took the lead midway through the first half through Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo doubled the lead on stroke of half time. The visitors continued to dominate in the second half with Ronaldo bagging his second of the game in the 56th minute.

Abdoulaye Faye got one back for Newcastle 11 minutes from time but United's three goal advantage was restored a minute later through Rooney and Louis Saha completed the proceedings by bagging the fifth in the final minute of the match.

Newcastle started the match intent on avoiding another drubbing at the United's hands and created a couple of decent chances in the opening few minutes. However the visitors took control of the game and raced to the lead when Rooney headed home Ronaldo's exquisite cross from the left flank.

The Magpies were struggling to create chances and it was no surprise that United doubled the lead in the 45th minute when Ronaldo latched on to Michael Carrick's brilliant through pass to stroke the ball past Shay Given. It was the same story in the second half and Ronaldo put the result beyond Newcastle's reach by scoring the third goal with a brilliant individual effort in the 56th minute.

Faye managed to pull one back for the hosts in the 79th minute through a corner but Rooney bagged his second of the night a minute later and Louis Saha came off the bench to complete the rout in the final minute of the match to further heap pressure on Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan whose side is now just 6 points away from the drop zone.