Man Utd lose ground despite brave recovery; Newcastle win

Feb 5, 2012, 19:46 GMT

London - Manchester United lost ground on leaders Manchester City at the top of the Premier League on Sunday despite a stirring fightback at Chelsea which saw them come from three goals down to pinch a 3-3 draw.

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.

'It is two points dropped but we played so well apart from the 10 minutes after half-time,' United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said.

'It's not easy coming back from 3-0 down. That's a massive effort.'

Chelsea took the lead through a Jonny Evans own goal on 36 minutes and then doubled it one minute into the second half when Juan Mata lashed in a volley after a great cross from Fernando Torres.

And when Mata's free-kick was headed in by Luiz four minutes later, United looked dead and buried.

But two controversial penalty decisions, given by referee Howard Webb, let United back in as Rooney converted from the spot just before the hour mark and again 11 minutes later.

First Daniel Sturridge was adjudged to have fouled Patrice Evra and then Branislav Ivanovic was penalized for a foul on Danny Welbeck.

Television replays suggested at least one of them may have been harsh on Chelsea but Rooney made no mistake, converting both with aplomb.

Ferguson brought on Paul Scholes and the former England midfielder began to dictate the tempo.

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.

'We had two penalties in the second half which were justified,' Ferguson said. 'I think we could have had four penalties (overall).'

Chelsea manager Andres Villa-Boas criticized referee Webb for decisions he felt cost Chelsea a convincing win.

'Of course, it's not easy to take (the result),' he said. 'It's a massive recovery for United. We had it in our hands and let it slip.

'There were some strange decisions today though. These things just keep happening. The first one is a penalty and I agree with it. The second is very unlucky.

'I'm not sure if Howard is trying to compensate for something.'

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.'