Goals: Brown 34' , Ronaldo 79', Nani 80'

Manchester United increased its lead in the English Premier League to five points Sunday, and Chelsea emerged as the defending champion’s main rival in this season’s title chase.

United beat Liverpool 3-0 to improve to 73 points, while Chelsea took over second place with 68 points by rallying to beat Arsenal 2-1.

“It’s going to go right to the end,” said Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, whose team hosts Arsenal on April 13 and plays at Chelsea on April 26.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 34th goal of the season, and Wes Brown and Nani added the others for United. Liverpool played the entire second half with 10 men because Javier Mascherano was sent off after getting a second yellow card.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Ferrdinand, Brown, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs (Nani 73'), Anderson (Tevez 73'), Rooney.

Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Aurelio, Alonso, Mascherano, Babel (Benayoun 66'), Kuyt, Gerrard, Torres (Riise 83').