LEAD: Man Utd fight back to pinch draw at Chelsea; Newcastle win

Feb 5, 2012, 18:01 GMT

London - Manchester United produce a stirring fightback as they came from 3-0 down to pinch a 3-3 draw at Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.

Chelsea looked home and dry when David Luiz scored their third goal on 50 minutes but two Wayne Rooney penalties and an equalizer by Javier Hernandez secured a potentially vital point in the title race.

The result left United two points behind leaders Manchester City while Chelsea remained fourth, one point ahead of Newcastle, who beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the day's other match.

Chelsea dominated United in the first half and took the lead through a Jonny Evans own goal.

One minute into the second half, a close-range finish by Juan Mata after good work by Fernando Torres made it 2-0, and when Mata's free- kick was headed in by Luiz four minutes later, United looked dead and buried.

But a controversial penalty decision, given by referee Howard Webb, let United back in as Rooney converted from the spot just before the hour mark.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson brought on Paul Scholes and the former England midfielder began to dictate the tempo.

But it took another controversial penalty decision to give United a second goal, when Branislav Ivanovic was adjudged to have fouled Danny Welbeck.

United poured forward in search of an equalizer and finally got it when Hernandez headed in Ryan Giggs' cross six minutes from time to steal a point.

At St James's Park, new signing Papiss Demba Cisse scored the winner as Newcastle boosted their chances of clinching a top-four spot.

The Senegal international, who signed for 10 million pounds (15.8 million dollars) from Germany's Freiburg last month, scored a superb goal 19 minutes from time to win it for the home side after Robbie Keane had cancelled out Demba Ba's first-half strike.

'We were a little bit loose in the first half and I think Villa probably deserved to score,' Newcastle manager Alan Pardew said.

'We closed the game up in the second half, thought we limited them and then we had one or two chances and then the goal which was something special, that's why you pay the big money and I thought he looked very good all day.'