Manchester United 3-0 Aston Villa: Reds Are Premier League Champions (PICTURES)

United Champions For A 20th Time

Manchester United are champions of England for a 20th time after beating Aston Villa 3-0 in the Barclays Premier League.

Robin van Persie's hat-trick inside the opening 33 minutes sealed a 13th title of Sir Alex Ferguson's Old Trafford tenure - 20 years on from his first title win.

Van Persie opened the scoring inside two minutes from close range after Ryan Giggs' neat lay-off, but his second goal was as audacious as it was awesome.

Van Persie scores his best goal yet for United against Villa

Wayne Rooney pinged a visionary ball from inside the centre circle which Van Persie ran on to, hitting an exceptional volley first time from 20 yards out into the corner of Brad Guzan's net.

A day after Luis Suárez butchered his reputation again, taking with it his hopes for individual awards, Van Persie re-emerged as the frontrunner for player of the year and usurped the Uruguayan in the Barclays Premier League scoring chants when he clinched his hat-trick. Again Giggs assisted him, again Van Persie finished from inside the six-yard box.

United meandered through the second 45 but they could afford to against the inexperienced Villans. This time 20 years ago, the club had gone over a quarter of a century without a title and trailed Liverpool 18-7 in the English championship stakes.

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