English Premier League round-up: Bent makes an immediate repayment

Aston Villa striker Darren Bent showed his £18m transfer fee could prove money well spent with the winner against title-chasing Manchester City at Villa Park.

The former Sunderland player, who joined Villa on Tuesday in a club-record deal, broke the deadlock with his first clear-cut opportunity after 18 minutes.

Dimitar Berbatov struck his third hat-trick of the season as Manchester United brushed aside woeful Birmingham at Old Trafford to retain top spot in the Barclays Premier League.

Ryan Giggs and Nani contributed a goal each to give United a 5-0 victory and extend their unbeaten league record this season to 22 matches.

Robin van Persie matched Berbatov's efforts by grabbing all three in Arsenal's easy 3-0 win over struggling Wigan at the Emirates Stadium. He would have had four but for a missed penalty following an incident which saw Wigan's Gary Caldwell sent off.

Aaron Lennon snatched a dramatic point for Tottenham at St James' Park when he fired home in injury time to cancel out Fabricio Coloccini's 59th-minute strike for Newcastle.

And there was an equally dramatic finish at Everton where Marouane Fellaini's injury-time effort denied West Ham victory. Frederic Piquionne's header six minutes from time appeared to have won it for the London side, but they remain bottom of the table. Jonathan Spector had given West Ham the half-time lead before Diniyar Bilyaletdinov equalised in the 66th minute.

Kieran Richardson scored twice as Sunderland beat Blackpool 2-1, Charlie Adams netting a penalty for the Seasiders, while a Clint Dempsey double gave Fulham a 2-0 win over Stoke.