London, England (My Sportsbook) - Robin van Persie scored twice in Arsenal's 3-0 win over north London rivals Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The game featured a pair of top-four teams but Tottenham produced an effort that was well below their standing, conceding goals to Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas in the final five minutes of the opening half before the Dutchman put the result out of reach on the hour mark with his second goal.
With the win Arsenal remains in third place, five points back of leaders Chelsea, while Tottenham is still fourth but is now eight points off the pace.
Arsenal's usually fluid passing game was bogged down in midfield for most of the first half with the best chance for the home side coming in the 19th minute when Andrey Arshavin's deflected shot fell to Fabregas near the top of the box, but his effort was saved at full stretch by Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.
The opener arrived in the 42nd minute just as it looked like the two sides would go into halftime without a goal.
Bacary Sagna's right-wing cross was met at the near post by Van Persie, who beat defender Ledley King to the ball and turned it past the keeper.
Tottenham then gave away a second goal less than 30 seconds later when they were careless with the ensuing kick off and allowed Fabregas to pick up the ball and weave his way past three defenders before firing into the lower left corner.
It was a terrible blow to the visitors right before halftime, and they were never able to recover as Arsenal went searching for a third goal after the restart.
Substitute Eduardo forced a good save from Gomes before Sebastien Bassong cleared a shot off the goal line from Abou Diaby, but the final goal came shortly after as Sagna's low cross found its way past Gomes and King, allowing Van Persie an easy tap in.
Chelsea cruised to a 4-0 win over Bolton as Jlloyd Samuel was sent off right before halftime and the Blues took advantage with four goals over the remainder of the match.
Manchester United got goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney to beat Blackburn, 2-0, keeping United in second place, while Liverpool had two players sent off in the second half of their 3-1 loss to Fulham.
Graham Alexander scored twice in Burnley's 2-0 victory over Hull City, Everton finished 1-1 with Aston Villa at Goodison Park, a hat trick from Aruna Dindane helped Portsmouth claim its second win of the season in resounding 4-0 fashion over Wigan, Sunderland and West Ham played to a 2-2 draw and Jody Craddock scored two second-half goals to help Wolverhampton earn a 2-2 draw at Stoke City.
