Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Wayne Rooney for the part he played in helping Dimitar Berbatov score five goals as Manchester United went top of the Premier League (United 15/8 Outright) thanks to a thumping 7-1 win against Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford.

Bulgarian hitman Berbatov, who is now 7/2 joint favourite to finish top Premier League Goalscorer, was the star of the show as he ended a run of 10 matches without a goal by smashing five past a hapless Rovers outfit.

And, while Ferguson was delighted with his goals glut, he felt Rooney’s overall game played a huge part in the impressive win.

“Berbatov and Rooney were a good combination today – they interchanged brilliantly today. Wayne was fantastic,” said Ferguson.

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce apologised to the travelling fans who witnessed the mauling, although he is not too worried about his side’s long-term prospects (Rovers 10/1 Relegation) given that he had a host of regulars absent, while he also felt United were on top of their game.

Allardyce said: “We had seven first-team players missing from the start. However, I did expect more from the players who did start.

“Unfortunately we caught United at their best. At half time we were 3-0 down and I told the players to protect that scoreline but they’d lost it by then.”

Arsenal, who are 19/5 to win the Premier League, maintained their title aspirations having briefly taken over top spot earlier on Saturday thanks to an impressive 4-2 win at Aston Villa.

And boss Arsene Wenger felt his side showed great character to bounce back from defeats to Tottenham and at Braga in midweek, and then stave off a Villa comeback after the home side had reduced the two-goal deficit to 2-1 and 3-2 during the second half at Villa Park.

“At 2-0, at half-time, you could feel what happened [against Tottenham] had an impact in their head,” said Wenger.

“We could have crumbled or we could score again – and we did the latter. We got a good mental response.”

Villa manager Gerard Houllier, whose team is 9/2 for a Top Six Premier League finish, blamed his side’s poor first half showing for the defeat against the Gunners.

“We were poor in the first half. Whether it was because we showed them too much respect, or lacked experience, I don’t know,” said the Frenchman.

“We never got started. We were a different team in the second half, showed more energy and took more risks.”

Meanwhile, West Ham boss Avram Grant is confident that he can guide his side into a mid-table finish (21/20 To Stay Up) following their 3-1 win against fellow strugglers Wigan in the ‘Save Our Season’ billed game at Upton Park.

Valon Behrami, Victor Obinna and Scott Parker were on target for the Hammers and, despite Grant’s men staying bottom and three points adrift of safety, the Israeli is backing himself to steer the Londoners to safety.

He said: “We are only nine points from the middle. That’s (a gap) you can close with more than 20 games to go.

“We have played only 15 games, so at the moment it does not really matter if Wolves win or the others do – we need to do our job.”

Meanwhile, Wigan boss Roberto Martinez was disappointed with the manner of the goals his side conceded in a crucial game against the Hammers which has left them in trouble in third-bottom spot and 8/11 for Relegation.

He said: “It was a day of a real test of character, and that was there, but in football you cannot concede cheap goals, otherwise you are making things very difficult.

“We just weren’t ourselves, and that is where the work is going to be.”

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