Manchester United were given an early scare at Newcastle
United on Wednesday before hitting back for a 2-1 victory that
restored their seven-point cushion at the top of the Premier
League.
Newcastle's Peter Lovenkrands became the first player to score
past United keeper Edwin van der Sar in the league for more than 21
hours with a ninth-minute tap-in but Wayne Rooney levelled and
Dimitar Berbatov sealed the points after the break.
United's 11th consecutive league victory took them to 65 points
from 27 games. Chelsea and Liverpool, who have both played a game
more, are both back on 58 with time running out.
Fourth-placed Aston Villa's Champions League
ambitions were dealt a blow with a 2-0 loss at Manchester
City while Stoke City climbed out of the
bottom three with a 2-0 home victory over Bolton
Wanderers.
West Ham United won 1-0 at Wigan
Athletic.
Tottenham Hotspur shook off the disappointment
of losing to Manchester United in Sunday's League Cup final with a
4-0 hammering of Middlesbrough to ease their
relegation worries.
Fifth-placed Everton drew 0-0 at
Blackburn Rovers while Hull City
scored late to beat Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage
to halt their recent slide.
United, who are closing in on an 18th league title, saw their
lead reduced by Chelsea and Liverpool on Tuesday and their rivals
would have been hoping for a favour from a Newcastle side is
desperate need of points.
They could not have been expecting Van der Sar to offer them a
chink of light, but the veteran Dutchman did just that after nine
minutes when he spilled a cross from Jonas Gutierrez and Dane
Lovenkrands was on hand to punish the error.
"We got off to a terrible start and Newcastle were on top,"
United manager Alex Ferguson, who was clearly not happy with his
side's early efforts, told Sky Sports.
"Edwin said himself he made a mess of it. It was a hairy spell
for us. It was going to happen sometime," he added, referring to
Van der Sar's rare slip.
United were at sixes and sevens early on and they were lucky to
see Obafemi Martins shoot into the side-netting when he had a great
chance to put Newcastle 2-0 ahead.
Normal service was resumed after 20 minutes when Rooney, who
missed United's League Cup final success through illness, beat
Steve Harper with a shot on the turn.
A niggly first half ended with Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven
Taylor getting involved near the touchline and Rio Ferdinand
receiving a yellow card.
Taylor was badly at fault for United's winner after 56 minutes
when he attempted to chest the ball back to his keeper but instead
gave the ball to Park Ji-sung who in turn fed Berbatov to score
with ease.
"We required a lot of grit at times," said Ferguson. "Whenever
you come back from 1-0 down to win you must be pleased."
Villa were looking for an eighth consecutive away league victory
but were second best at Manchester City who won with goals from
Elano and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
They are now just three points above Arsenal in the race for the
final Champions League berth.