Both Arsenal and Manchester City scored comfortable victories in the Premier League on the weekend but it is Manchester United who are set to clinch the title.
The Gunners remained fifth on the table despite their 4-1 home win over Reading which came courtesy of goals from Gervinho, Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud and Mikel Arteta whilst Hal Robson-Kanu was on target for the Royals who remain rock bottom of the table.
City returned to form following their defeat to Everton recently by cruising past Newcastle United 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium with Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Vincent Kompany and a James Perhc own-goal doing the damage.
United maintained their 15-point lead on rivals City due to a narrow 1-0 win at Sunderland thanks to Titus Bramble's first-half own-goal and could now put themselves 18 clear if they happen to win the Manchester derby next Monday.
Elsewhere, Southampton surprised Chelsea 2-1 at St Mary's to move up to 12th, Andy Carroll's double allowed West Ham United to beat West Bromwich Albion 3-1 in East London and Wigan Athletic moved out of the drop zone with a 1-0 home triumph over Norwich City.
Gareth Bale scored his eighth goal in his past eight outings (for a season tally of 17) and also set up Jan Vertonghen's opener as Tottenham beat Swansea City 2-1 in South Wales, Everton stayed sixth with a 1-0 victory over Stoke City, Liverpool came from behind to edge Aston Villa 2-1 on Sunday and Fulham heaped more misery on QPR with a 3-2 result at Craven Cottage on Monday night.
2012/13 Barclays Premier League season scores
Sunderland: 0 Manchester United: 1 (Titus Bramble (og) 27') Stadium of Light, Sunderland - 43,760
Arsenal: 4 (Gervinho 11', Santi Cazorla 48', Olivier Giroud 67', Mikel Arteta (p) 77') Reading: 1 (Hal Robson-Kanu 68') Emirates Stadium, London - 60,082
Manchester City: 4 (Carlos Tevez 41', David Silva 45+2', Vincent Kompany 56', James Perch (og) 69') Newcastle United: 0 Etihad Stadium, Manchester - 47,201
Southampton: 2 (Jay Rodriguez 23', Rickie Lambert 35') Chelsea: 1 (John Terry 33') St Mary's Stadium, Southampton - 31,779
Swansea City: 1 (Michu 71') Tottenham: 2 (Jan Vertonghen 7', Gareth Bale 21') Liberty Stadium, Swansea - 20,604
West Ham United: 3 (Andy Carroll 16'/80', Gary O'Neil 28') West Bromwich Albion: 1 (Graham Dorrans (p) 88', red card: Youssuf Mulumbu 90+5') Upton Park, London - 34,966
Wigan Athletic: 1 (Arouna Kone 81') Norwich City: 0 DW Stadium, Wigan - 17,784
Everton: 1 (Kevin Mirallas 28') Stoke City: 0 Goodison Park, Liverpool - 33,977
Aston Vila: 1 (Christian Benteke 31') Liverpool: 2 (Jordan Henderson 47', Steven Gerrard (p) 60') Villa Park, Birmingham - 42,037
Fulham: 3 (Dimitar Berbatov (p) 8'/22', Clint Hill (og) 41', red card: Steve Sidwell 79') Queens Park Rangers: 2 (Adel Taarabt 45', Loic Remy 51', penalty miss: Remy 49') Craven Cottage, London - 25,117
