Wayne Rooney salvaged a 2-2 draw for Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday but the Premier League champions lost further ground as Chelsea and Manchester City offered further evidence that they will lead the pursuit of Arsenal.
Chelsea recovered from going behind after 13 seconds to beat Southampton 3-1 at home with John Terry scoring on his 400th league appearance for the club and free-scoring Man City climbed to third after spanking Swansea City 3-0.
City, for whom Samir Nasri netted twice, have now scored 16 goals in their last three home matches. Liverpool began the day in second place but faltered, losing 3-1 at Hull City. With a third of the season gone, Arsenal lead the standings on 31 points, four more than Chelsea and six ahead of City with Liverpool in fourth, a further point behind.
United are eighth, nine points adrift. Hull, who had never beaten Liverpool, opened the scoring on 20 minutes thanks to a huge slice of good fortune, Jake Livermore’s shot from distance cannoning off the boot of Martin Skrtel and looping over ’keeper Simon Mignolet. Liverpool levelled thanks to a curling freekick from Steven Gerrard but their lacklustre performance was punished in the second half when David Meyler latched on to a loose ball and buried it into the bottom corner. Skrtel deflected in a Tom Huddlestone shot with three minutes remaining to wrap up the points for Hull.
Kyle Walker’s fierce freekick gave Tottenham an 18th minute lead only for Rooney to equalise with poacher’s goal after Walker went from hero to zero with a terrible error.
A spectacular strike by Sandro restored the home team’s lead after the interval before a rash moment by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris handed Rooney the chance to level from the penalty spot. Tottenham had not beaten United in 12 previous home attempts but they began the game looking determined to improve that dismal statistic and get their season back on track.
