Owen leads Magpies to victory

Michael Owen demonstrated exactly why manager Kevin Keegan is so desperate for him to sign a new contract by claiming a derby day double in a 2-0 win over Sunderland on Sunday.

The 28-year-old England international headed the Magpies into a fourth-minute lead and then made it six goals in as many games in the final minute of the first half from the penalty spot.

The win maintained Keegan’s perfect record against the Black Cats, which now stretches to five games, on a day when his mission to keep the club in the Premier League was successfully completed.

By contrast, Roy Keane’s side face a tense conclusion to the season with just five points separating them from the relegation zone with three games remaining.

John Carew and Ashley Young grabbed a brace apiece to keep Aston Villa on course for Europe and send humiliated local rivals Birmingham closer to the Premier League relegation trapdoor with a 5-1 drubbing.

Martin O’Neill’s side outgunned their woeful opponents in all departments to close the gap on fifth-placed Everton to three points.

Gabriel Agbonlahor completed the Villa rout and all third-from-bottom Blues could manage in reply was a consolation goal from substitute Mikael Forssell.

Manchester City took some of the heat off under-pressure manager Sven-Goran Eriksson with a convincing 3-1 victory over 10-man Portsmouth.

Eriksson was hugely displeased at City owner Thaksin Shinawatra’s comments that he will “review” the club at the end of the season, and his players gave their answer to the Thai tycoon in the best possible manner.

Inspired by the powerful Benjani Mwaruwari, City took full advantage of an off-day for the Portsmouth defence to keep themselves in with a chance of qualifying for Europe.

Whether that will suffice for Thaksin has yet to be seen, and Eriksson certainly needs to shore up his team in key areas, specifically in defence and central midfield, if he keeps his position for next season.

Benjani scored the third to seal victory and end Portsmouth’s hopes of a comeback. Darius Vassell had opened the scoring after a bad mix-up between David James and Sol Campbell, Martin Petrov made it 2-0 before John Utaka’s goal gave the visitors hope again.(source: yahoo/afp)