Manchester United dropped Wayne Rooney to the bench
before blowing a two-goal lead and drawing 2-2 with West Bromwich
Albion, while leader Chelsea was held to a scoreless draw at Aston
Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.
United didn't appear to be missing Rooney when Javier Hernandez
and Nani scored in the first half.
But after the break, Chris Brunt's free kick went in off Patrice
Evra before Somen Tchoyi tapped in from six yards after Edwin van
der Saar dropped a cross from Brunt. Rooney played the last 20
minutes as United drew a third straight match.
"It's just explicable - it turned from a fantastic first-half
performance to one where we have given the game away," United
manager Alex Ferguson said. "We should have punished them and
scored four or five before halftime."
United was third four points behind Chelsea, which has collected
just four points from its last three matches.
The North London sides both rallied to win 2-1, with Arsenal
beating Birmingham and Tottenham triumphing at Fulham.
Bolton also beat Stoke 2-1, while Newcastle was held to 2-2 by
Wigan and Wolverhampton drew 1-1 with West Ham.
At Old Trafford, all eyes were on the star striker wrapped up on
the bench as Ferguson fueled suggestions of a rift with Rooney by
dropping him.
While Rooney was dealing with problems in his personal life last
month, he was rested for several matches by United with the official
reason being that he was struggling with an ankle injury.
But Rooney directly contradicted his manager by revealing on
Tuesday that he had no fitness concerns. He had to wait until the
71st minute to come off the bench, but by that time it was already
2-2.
Hernandez pounced quickly after five minute to tap home after
Scott Carson spilled Nani's free kick.
The Portugal winger gave United a 2-0 halftime lead but the
Baggies hit back with their two quick second-half goals.
The result lifted United to third but it could drop one place if
Manchester City beats Blackpool on Sunday and closes the gap on Chelsea to just two points.
It was a frustrating trip to Birmingham for Chelsea although
Nicolas Anelka could have been celebrating a dramatic winner had his
downward header not bounced up and against the crossbar.
Villa was also presented with a chance to win the game in
stoppage time when Nigel Reo-Coker shot wide when one-on-one with
goalkeeper Petr Cech.
At Emirates Stadium, Nikola Zigic headed Birmingham ahead when he
rose to meet Keith Fahey's cross.
But Arsenal won a penalty before halftime when striker Marouane
Chamakh went down easily in the box from Scott Dann's challenge and
Samir Nasri leveled from the spot.
Two minutes after the break, Alex Song backheeled to Jack
Wilshere and the ball was played through to Chamakh, who ghosted
past defender Stephen Carr before rounding goalkeeper Ben Foster and
netting the winner.
But Wilshere was sent off near the end for a lunging challenge
that caught Zigic's ankle.
Fulham's unbeaten record ended as Tom Huddlestone struck a hotly
contested second-half winner for Tottenham, which was initially
waved off by the linesman because William Gallas was in an offside
position. But the decision was overruled by referee Mike Dean as the
ball never touched the defender.
Diomansy Kamara had given Fulham the lead in the 30th and Roman
Pavlyuchenko equalized shortly after the ensuing kickoff.
At St. James' Park, Fabricio Coloccini headed a goal in the
fourth minute of added time to salvage a 2-2 draw for Newcastle
after substitute Shola Ameobi start the comeback with a 72nd-minute
header.
Charles N'Zogbia scored twice in two first-half minutes against
his former club to initially put Wigan in control.
There was also a stoppage time goal at Bolton, with substitute
Ivan Klasnic's strike giving the hme side the three points, but
there was still time for him to receive a second yellow card to be
dismissed.
Lee Chung-yong's 25-meter (yard) goal put Bolton ahead, but Rory
Delap leveled.
In a basement dogfight at Molineux, Mark Noble saved goalkeeper
Robert Green's blushes as he scored a second-half enalty to salvage
a 1-1 draw for West Ham against Wolves.
Green had failed to clear a routine corner and allowed Matt
Jarvis to tap in the opener. Both teams occupy the bottom two places
with six points each.
