Manchester City moved up to third place on the English Premier League table with an emphatic 5 – 0 win over Sunderland on Sunday.

Adam Johnson, making his first start since injuring his ankle in January, opened the scoring in the ninth minute and skipper Carlos Tevez doubled the Blues’ advantage on the quarter-hour mark from the penalty spot.

Second-half strikes from David Silva, Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure completed the rout as City leapfrogged Chelsea in the table and moved further clear of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur in the race for Champions League football.

Roberto Mancini’s side are now six points ahead of Spurs, who do have a match in hand.

Sunderland, meanwhile, have gone seven league matches without a victory and need rapid improvement if they are to avoid being dragged into the relegation dogfight.

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Fernando Torres scored two goals as Liverpool delivered one of their best performances of the season to beat Sunderland 3 – 0 at Anfield on sunday.

After Tottenham Hotspur beat Portsmouth 2-0 on Saturday it was essential for Liverpool to keep in touch and they did it in style.

Spurs remained fourth on 58 points from 31 games with Liverpool fifth on 54 from 32. Manchester City, who have played only 30 and face Wigan Athletic on Monday, have 53 with Aston Villa on 51 from 31 after their 7-1 thrashing by Chelsea.

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Two former English Premier League match officials criticised referee Mike Jones today for allowing a goal that deflected in off a beach ball in Sunderland‘s 1-0 victory over Liverpool on Saturday.

Dermot Gallagher, a topflight referee between 1992 and 2007, said that Darren Bent’s fifth-minute goal at the Stadium of Light on Saturday should have been disallowed with play being restarted by a “drop ball”.

“It was such a glaring error. Everybody knows that when something encroaches on to the pitch the game stops,” he said.

“It’s an error that no one can fathom because it goes down to grass-roots level in the laws of the game. For it to happen in a high-profile game at this level is unbelievable. Any one of the four (officials) could have stepped in.”

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The Football Association have asked Sir Alex Ferguson to explain his comments about 49 year-old referee Alan Wiley following Manchester United‘s 2 – 2 draw against Sunderland at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Having looked at the remarks, the FA have now requested that the Scot explains the reasons behind his outburst.

However, no further action will be taken against Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce who criticised Peter Walton for not giving Rovers a penalty in their 6-2 defeat at Arsenal.

Ferguson’s comments have been criticised by Alan Leighton, national secretary of professionals’ union Prospect – who represent referees.

“My main concern is about the unfounded and totally unwarranted remarks about Alan Wiley’s fitness,” he said.

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Chelsea extended Carlo Ancelotti‘s 100% winning record by beating Sunderland 3 – 1 at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night.

On Saturday, a miscued Didier Drogba cross deep into injury time dipped into the net to give Ancelotti’s side a narrow 2-1 home win against Hull City after the Blues had fallen behind.

The west London club found themselves in trouble again at the Stadium of Light as record signing Darren Bent gave Sunderland an early lead.

But thereafter it was all Chelsea as Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard from the spot and Deco produced second-half goals that eased the visitors to a deserved victory.

Having themselves won on the opening day – 1-0 at Bolton – Sunderland were reminded of the class gap in this league.

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