Arsenal stroll to the top of the league

Arsenal moved within sight of the premier league title on Monday after cruising to a 3-0 victory over Charlton Athletic at The Valley.

Two goals for Thierry Henry either side of one for Freddie Ljungberg in the first 25 minutes took Arsenal to 69 points, one ahead of Liverpool and two ahead of Manchester United, neither of whom were playing on Monday. The London club also still have a game in hand on their two title rivals.

On a day when all games were preceded by a minute's silence after the death of The Queen Mother, Chelsea missed the chance to move up to fourth -- the final Champions League berth -- after being held to a goalless draw at struggling Ipswich Town.

The London club stay fifth on 57 points, two behind Newcastle United who play Aston Villa on Tuesday. Leeds United remain sixth on 54 after a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

At the other end, Everton look safe after a 3-1 home win over fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers.

But Derby County are running out of time after a 1-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough and bottom club Leicester City are all but down following a 2-1 loss at the Stadium of Light that should keep Sunderland safe.

West Ham United's 1-0 win at Craven Cottage made it seven defeats in eight league games for Fulham, who remain just four points clear of the drop zone.

Blackburn Rovers, who are now third-last, are at home to Southampton later on Monday.

Arsenal were 3-0 up after half an hour against Sunderland on Saturday but needed five minutes less to repeat the dose at Charlton.

RACED CLEAR

This time they had to wait until the 16th minute to find the target against a Charlton team who beat them 4-2 at Highbury in November as Henry, who had not scored in four games for Arsenal, raced clear from the halfway line to slot home the opening goal.

It was the Frenchman's neat turn that sent Dennis Bergkamp to the byline five minutes later and the Dutch striker pulled the ball back for ever-willing Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg to score a simple second five minutes later.

Ljungberg became provider in the 25th minute to set up Henry for a similarly straightforward third.

On Saturday Arsenal had been able to cruise through the second half and they were relatively untroubled again as they maintained their remarkable unbeaten away record.

They know that if they win their remaining six fixtures they will be champions for the first time since 1998.

"It's a job done because we have shown a great solidarity in the first half and killed the game off very quickly and then we did the job very well in the second," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

VERY OPTIMISTIC

"We still have a lot to do but keeping that spirit, I'm still very optimistic. We know it's down to us now and we have a great determination."

If the game at The Valley was a relatively tame affair, the Goodison Park encounter had everything.

Everton's Duncan Ferguson was sent off for punching Bolton's Fredi Bobic after 20 minutes, hardly the action of a man handed the club captaincy, but the numbers were levelled after half an hour when Kostas Konstantinidis saw red for his second booking.

Alessandro Pistone blasted Everton ahead four minutes before the break, striker Tomasz Radzinski was then guilty of one of the misses of the season early in the second period but made up for it in the 57th minute with the second goal.

Rod Wallace and Ricardo Gardner both hit the woodwork within a minute later on for Bolton but, although Bruno N'Gotty was on target with a header after 75 minutes, young substitute Nick Chadwick settled it with his first goal for Everton four minutes from time.

"We didn't defend well enough today," said Bolton boss Sam Allardyce.