Manchester United set a Premier League record in crushing West Bromwich Albion as Emile Heskey marked his Aston Villa debut with the winning goal.

Kenwyne Jones celebrated signing a new Sunderland contract with the only goal against Fulham as Tottenham Hotspur eased to victory over Stoke City at White Hart Lane.

Leaders United made it 11 clean sheets in a row with an imperious performance in beating bottom-of-the-table West Brom 5-0 at the Hawthorns.

A slick passing move enabled United to make the breakthrough midway through the first half as Ryan Giggs smuggled a pass through to Dimitar Berbatov, who played a precise one-two with Michael Carrick before driving a low shot past Scott Carson.

West Brom’s chances of getting back in the game were handicapped further five minutes before half-time when referee Rob Styles wasted no time in producing a red card after skipper Paul Robinson’s full-blooded challenge on Park Ji-sung.

And the game took a further turn for the worse for the hosts a minute before the interval as Carson, claiming a foul, dropped Ryan Giggs’ free-kick at the feet of Carlos Tevez and he gleefully smashed the ball into the net from close range.

Ryan Donk hit the post for the Baggies after a clever passing move before Nemanja Vidic headed home Giggs’ corner on the hour mark.

United further increased their lead on 65 minutes as Tevez played in Giggs, who showed great awareness to tee up Cristiano Ronaldo for a simple finish.

Ronaldo then scored his second of the night on 73 minutes as he timed his run to perfection to slot Berbatov’s pass through Carson’s legs.

New signing Heskey enjoyed a dream debut for Villa as the striker’s first-half goal clinched a 1-0 win at out-of-sorts Portsmouth to move Martin O’Neill’s men level on points with second-placed Liverpool.

Villa took the lead in the 21st minute when Gabriel Agbonlahor flicked the ball on and Heskey unleashed an unstoppable volley from the edge of the area which flew past David James.

Pompey had Nadir Belhadj sent off for a second bookable offence on 71 minutes, although he could easily have been dismissed in the first half for kicking out at Craig Gardner.

An inspired first-half performance moved Tottenham three points above the relegation zone after a 3-1 victory at home to Stoke.

Spurs were in front after just eight minutes as Jermain Defoe fed Aaron Lennon and the winger advanced into the box before drilling a low shot past Thomas Sorensen.

Defoe then turned goalscorer on 21 minutes when smashing a thumping shot past Sorensen after being played in by strike partner Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Just four minutes later it was 3-0 as Spurs worked a short corner and Luka Modric whipped in a cross which was headed home by the unmarked Michael Dawson.

Stoke kept going and pulled a goal back on 57 minutes as James Beattie scored his first goal for the club after finishing off a pass from fellow new boy Matthew Etherington.

Fulham are still to win away in the Premier League this season after going down to a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland.

After a first half of few chances, Sunderland decisively broke the deadlock 10 minutes into the second period with a powerful run from Andy Reid creating the opening.

The ball broke for Djibril Cisse and his firm shot was pushed out by Mark Schwarzer, with Jones reacting the quickest to pounce on the loose ball..