As Manchester United yesterday produced a flurry of second-half goals to trounce Wigan Athletic 5:0, England international and now top forward at Old Trafford Wayne Rooney (pictured right) contributed two, picking up approximately 30 rating points to further consolidate his lead in the FTBL ranking of Premier League strikers.

With a tally of 209.62 points at the moment, Rooney’s nearest rivals, Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, are now further behind with 173.84 and 169.09 points, respectively.

As Chelsea travel to Fulham today, Drogba and Anelka will face daunting planks of 25 and 21 rating points to beat, respectively. To reduce the gap with Rooney they will have to produce strong performances, while overtaking the England international appears almost impossible: to do so, either one will have to score at least 4 goals against Fulham.