Premier League
Table
DIMITAR BERBATOV hit his third hat-trick of the season as Manchester United thrashed Birmingham City 5-0 at Old Trafford to maintain their two-point lead at the top.
The Bulgarian had previously scored a hat-trick in the Red Devils' 3-2 win against Liverpool in September and he hit five goals in the 7-1 mauling of Blackburn Rovers in November.
Berbatov now joins Alan Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy as the only players to have scored more than two hat-tricks in a single Premier League season. Shearer scored five of them as he helped Blackburn win the title in 1994-95.
The evergreen Ryan Giggs and Nani added to Berbatov's strikes to keep Sir Alex Ferguson's men unbeaten in the league on 48 points after 22 games.
United are two points clear of Arsenal who also had a hat-trick hero in Robin van Persie as they beat Wigan Athletic 3-0 at the Emirates to move into second place.
The Gunners benefited from Manchester City's latest slip-up after Roberto Mancini's men were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa.
Darren Bent enjoyed a dream debut and scored the winner at Villa Park to provide some much-needed relief for Gerard Houllier's struggling outfit.
But City's fifth league defeat of the season leaves them three points adrift of their great rivals having played an extra two matches. United play the first of these games in hand on tonight at Blackpool.
Last night, Chelsea returned to their ruthless best to beat Bolton Wanderers 4-0 at the Reebok Stadium and increase their stranglehold on fourth place.
Goals from Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka and Ramires gave the Blues their first back-to-back league wins since October.
For Bolton, though, the year has not begun so well and four defeats out of five games has dropped Owen Coyle's men from sixth on Boxing Day to tenth position.
Sunderland have strode into the Trotters' top-six place after taking 10 points from their first four league games of 2011.
However, it has not all been good news on Wearside with the surprise departure of Bent for up to £24m leaving a hole in the Black Cats' attack.
Still, the news is worse at Upton Park where West Ham United still prop up the rest of the league on 21 points from 24 games after they conceded late on in a 2-2 draw at Everton.
Mick McCarthy's Wolverhampton Wanderers are second-bottom on the same points from just one game fewer after a 3-0 mauling at Molineux by a Fernando Torres-inspired Liverpool.
Torres scored twice and Raul Meireles got the other goal as the Reds won their first game since Kenny Dalglish replaced Roy Hodgson on FA Cup Third Round weekend.
Meanwhile, it does not get any easier for Wolves in the next few games as they face Manchester United and Arsenal in two of their next three matches.
Wigan Athletic complete the bottom three on 22 points after just one win in their last 10 league games - back on Boxing Day at Wolves.
Like Wolves, the three clubs just outside the drop zone hail from the West Midlands for which this has not been a classic season.
Birmingham City, on 23 points, are in the most immediate danger after that 5-0 loss at Old Trafford with Villa and West Bromwich Albion on 25 points.
Of the three, the Baggies are in the worst form with six defeats in their last seven league games sending Roberto di Matteo's men plummeting down the table.
It is not as if West Brom fans do not know what relegation from the Premier League feels like - the Albion have already gone down three times in the past eight seasons.
The Championship
Table
WAYNE ROUTLEDGE scored a late goal on his return to Loftus Road to help Queens Park Rangers complete a comeback win against Coventry City.
Winger Routledge, who is back with Rangers on loan from Newcastle United, took down a fine pass from Adel Taarabt before firing low past Coventry keeper Keiran Westwood.
Moroccan Taarabt had earlier equalised on the stroke of half-time after Marlon King's early goal for the Sky Blues.
The victory gives QPR 52 points from 27 games - and that is five points clear of a trio of clubs in Cardiff City, Norwich City and Swansea City.
Cardiff brought to an end Watford's fine recent run with a 4-2 win in which Craig Bellamy, Michael Chopra, Jay Bothroyd and Gabor Gypes all scored to make it seven points out of their last nine.
Norwich are in even better form with 20 points from their last 27 in a sequence that stretches back to the end of November, after Saturday's 2-1 win at Sheffield United.
But, at nearby Barnsley, Swansea were forced to rescue a point as Scott Sinclair scored his 17th goal of the season with a late penalty.
Leeds United, in fifth on 45 points, also had to come from behind - twice, indeed - to make their point at Fratton Park against Portsmouth.
Luciano Becchio and Davide Somma scored for the Yorkshire side whose form since Christmas has tailed off somewhat with just one win in six since Boxing Day.
By contrast, the two teams immediately behind Leeds are the division's form clubs.
Sixth-placed Nottingham Forest, who finished third last season, are now just four point adrift of an automatic promotion spot after five wins and a draw from their last six league games.
The run included two derby wins over their East Midlands rivals Derby County, the Reds completing the Double at the weekend with a 1-0 win at Pride Park thanks to Robert Earnshaw's late goal.
However, the earlier derby will live on longer in the memory, Forest demolishing the Rams 5-2 at the City Ground after two goals each from Earnshaw and Marcus Tudgay.
Billy Davies' men remain the only Championship side unbeaten at home this season and they have two or three games in hand on all of the sides above them.
But, while Watford, in seventh, cannot match that, they can point to a recent run of six successive league wins - a sequence which has propelled the Hornets into the promotion picture.
That run may have come to a grinding to a shuddering halt at Cardiff in a 4-2 defeat on Saturday but Malky Mackay's men may yet finish in the top six by the end of the season.
At this stage, of course, some sides are just hoping to stay in the division and the situation looks most bleak at Deepdale where Preston North End are in deep trouble.
With just one win in their last 13 league games, the Lancastrians are rooted to the bottom of the Championship with 21 points from 24 matches, six adrift of safety.
The appointment of Phil Brown, in place of the sacked Darren Ferguson, has not seemed to have much effect and Preston face a massive game against second-bottom Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
After a reasonable start, Scunthorpe have also slipped into trouble on the back of claiming just four points from their last 10 games.
At least the 0-0 draw with Burnley brought to an end a devastating run of six successive home league defeats but the Iron have still only won once at Glanford Park in the league this season.
That came back in August against Crystal Palace who have unsurprisingly struggled all season.
The cash-strapped Eagles are third-bottom with 26 points, two ahead of Scunthorpe and one behind Sheffield United who remain in dreadful form.
Micky Adams' Blades have taken just five points from their last nine games and, along with the bottom three, they are threatened with being cut adrift.
That is because Tony Mowbray has seen an upturn in form at Middlesbrough who are unbeaten in their last five league games with three wins and two draws.
Boro now sit in 20th position with 30 points from 27 games, and they can breathe a little easier - unlike the patrons at Preston, Scunthorpe and Crystal Palace.
League One
Table
MANAGERLESS AFC Bournemouth closed the gap to Brighton & Hove Albion to three points after beating the Seagulls 1-0 in the top-of-the-table League One clash.
The Cherries showed no signs of missing Burnley-bound former boss Eddie Howe as Liam Feeney's volley earned a vital win for caretaker manager Lee Bradbury at Dean Court.
Gus Poyet's Brighton remain top with 46 points from 24 games despite suffering their fourth league defeat of the campaign, all of which have come away. Bournemouth are second with 43 points but having played two more matches.
However, neither third-placed Huddersfield Town nor fourth-placed Southampton took full advantage of Brighton's slip-up.
Lee Clark's Terriers could only manage a 0-0 home draw with Colchester United while the Saints were beaten 2-0 at struggling Tranmere Rovers.
Like Bournemouth, Huddersfield have 43 points from 26 games while Southampton have 41 points from 25 games.
Not far behind the front-runners are Peterborough United and Milton Keynes Dons on 39 points, and Charlton Athletic and Oldham Athletic on 38 points.
All four teams tasted victory at the weekend. Posh thumped Hartlepool United 4-0, MK Dons won 1-0 at Dagenham & Redbridge, Charlton beat Plymouth Argyle 2-0 and Oldham beat Brentford 2-1 to make it three wins out of four.
At the bottom, Walsall continue to be cut adrift after another defeat - this time 2-1 at Exeter City - means the Saddlers have failed to win a game in 2011 from six attempts.
The men from the Bescot Stadium have just 19 points from 25 games, already 10 adrift of safety.
League One also looks a step too far for Dagenham & Redbridge who are second-bottom with 21 points after their 1-0 loss to MK Dons made it four defeats in five.
But third-bottom Yeovil Town, on 26 points, and fourth-bottom Bristol Rovers, on 27, will carry more hope of survival into the second half of the season.
It certainly helped that Rovers won 3-1 on Saturday against the team immediately outside the bottom four, Swindon Town.
Remarkably, the Pirates' victory was their first in the league since mid-October but it takes them to within a point of last season's playoff finalists, Swindon.
For the Robins, this was a third successive defeat and that day out at Wembley in May must now seem like an age away.
League Two
Table
LEADERS Chesterfield ground out a 0-0 draw against Shrewsbury Town as the top four met over the weekend in League Two.
The Spireites stay top in a healthy position with 49 points from 24 matches, fully 10 points clear of their visitors.
Meanwhile, second-placed Wycombe Wanderers sneaked a vital win over third-placed Rotherham United at the Causeway Stadium thanks to a solitary goal from veteran Gareth Ainsworth.
The win for the Chairboys takes them to 46 points from 25 games, and they are now five points ahead of Rotherham though the Yorkshire side have a game in hand.
Behind the three automatic promotion places, the division is very tight with six teams separated by just two points.
Shrewsbury and Port Vale are fourth and fifth on 39 points with Crewe Alexandra in sixth place on 38 points.
There is then a trio of clubs on 37 points, namely seventh-placed Bury, who are in the last playoff spot for now, Gillingham in eighth and Cheltenham Town in ninth.
Bury may be in that top-seven spot at the moment but the Shakers do not look like holding onto it for much longer, given that they have had just three draws in the league in six games since November.
Gillingham look best-placed to pounce now that they have sorted out their away form.
Having failed to win away from Priestfield all the way through last season, Andy Hessenthaler's men then took until November this term to win on their travels - a total of 34 games across 18 months.
After the spell was broken with a 1-0 win at Oxford United, the Gills have since won away at Barnet 2-1, Macclesfield Town 4-2 and Stockport County 5-1.
And put together with three consecutive home wins over Port Vale, Stevenage and Northampton Town, the results have propelled the Kent club from 22nd in November to their current placing of eighth.
Still down at the wrong end of the table, however, are the likes of Lincoln City, Hereford United and Stockport.
Lincoln are bottom with 22 points from as many games, while Hereford are just above them on the same points from 23 matches.
But it is actually third-bottom Stockport who look in most desperate shape after Lincoln beat them 4-3 at Sincil Bank on Saturday thanks to an Ashley Grimes hat-trick.
The result leaves the Hatters only two points clear of the bottom two but having played four games more than Hereford and five more than Lincoln.
Fourth-bottom Barnet, alongside Stockport on 24 points, are in a similarly vulnerable position to Stockport having played three more matches than the Bulls and four more than the Red Imps.
But, unlike Stockport, the Bees have seen a slight upturn in form with five points from their last three games.
Stockport have just one win in their last 11 league games, and they have conceded no fewer than 61 goals, a Football League high for this campaign.
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