United back to winning ways

Come back from a goal down to beat QPR 3-1; Chelsea to face City today.

LONDON:

Manchester United scored three times in eight minutes to beat bottom-placed QPR 3-1 and move back to the top of the Premier League yesterday.

QPR, being watched from the stands by Harry Redknapp who was named as their new manager on Saturday, took the lead with a 52nd-minute Jamie Mackie tap-in, but were left reeling as quick goals from Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher and Javier Hernandez gave United their sixth comeback win in the league this season.

Now without a win in 13 league matches, QPR stay nailed to the bottom with four points. United moved on to 30 points, two clear of champions Manchester City (28) who can regain top spot if they win at Chelsea (24) today.

West Bromwich Albion moved on to 26 points and above Chelsea into third place – at least until today’s match at Stamford Bridge – when they won 4-2 at Sunderland for a fourth successive league win, giving them their best start to a season since 1953-54.

“To talk about European football at this stage would be folly,” warned West Brom coach Steve Clarke. “There are a lot of games to go, so we’ll keep our feet on the ground.”

Elsewhere, Everton were minutes away from beating Norwich City but had to settle for a 1-1 draw after a late Sebastian Bassong header cancelled out Steven Naismith’s early opener for Everton.

Wigan Athletic prevailed 3-2 at home to fellow relegation contenders Reading after Jordi Gomez completed a hat-trick with an injury-time winner at the DW Stadium. Reading looked to have snatched a point in the 80th minute when Wigan goal-keeper Ali Al Habsi allowed Hal Robson-Kanu’s deflected shot to squirm into the net, only for Gomez to restore Wigan’s advantage in stoppage time.

Stoke City defeated Fulham 1-0 at the Britannia Stadium, with Charlie Adam claiming the game’s only goal in the 26th minute to take his side above Liverpool into 11th place.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2012.