United fight back to hold Chelsea

Fergusons men rally from three goals down in Stamford Bridge thriller

Manchester United fought back from three goals down to draw 3-3 with Chelsea in a thrilling Premier League match at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Two penalties from Wayne Rooney and a header by Javier Hernandez kept the champions in touch with leaders Manchester City after Chelsea had built a 3-0 lead six minutes into the second half through an own goal by Jonny Evans, a scorching left-foot volley from Juan Mata and a David Luiz header.

But United, who dominated most of the first half, struck back with two penalties from Wayne Rooney after 58 and 69 minutes and Hernandez powered in a header seven minutes from time after Cech had saved a Rooney shot.

Manchester City stayed top of the table on 57 points, two clear of United with both teams having played 24 games.

“Of course it's two points left but, after we were 3-0 down, all the Manchester City players at home watching the game won't enjoy the way we fought back,” Rooney told Sky Sports. “They can see we've got spirit and we will be there with them until the end.”

Chelsea, without injured skipper John Terry and midfielder Frank Lampard and the suspended Ashley Cole, stayed in fourth place on 43 points, six behind Tottenham Hotspur who play at Liverpool on Monday.

In the day's earlier game, substitute Papiss Cisse scored on his debut to give Newcastle United a 2-1 win over Aston Villa and push the hosts up to fifth.

Fellow Senegalese Demba Ba picked up where he left off before heading to the African Nations Cup by scoring another goal, firing in on 30 minutes after team-mate Ryan Taylor had been injured in the box.

Taylor's treatment led to substantial first-half injury time and Villa used it to their advantage, Robbie Keane netting his 150th English league goal and third since joining on loan from Los Angeles Galaxy.

Cisse, who came on for the injured Leon Best after 14 minutes, won the game midway through the second half with a shot from the edge of the area as the Newcastle faithful immediately took the former Freiburg striker to their hearts.

Easy win

City comfortably beat Fulham 3-0 to temporarily move three points clear of Manchester United at the top as snow engulfed northern England in freezing conditions on Saturday. 

City's 17th successive home league win since Fulham drew 1-1 there almost a year ago, came after Sergio Aguero fired them ahead with a 10th minute penalty after a Chris Baird foul on Adam Johnson.

Baird's misery continued when he put through his own net 20 minutes later and City added a third from Edin Dzeko after 72 minutes to secure all three points as they produced the perfect response to their 1-0 defeat at Everton on Tuesday.

“The players were fantastic this evening, they played very well,” City coach Roberto Mancini told ESPN.  It was not easy because Fulham are a very good team. It was very important after the defeat to react very quickly -- it was important for the future.”

Dzeko added: “It was very hard in this weather, and when it's like this, it's always better to score at the beginning of the game and then it's easier to play.”