Manchester United moved back into the Premier League
lead, rallying at home to beat last-place Queens Park Rangers 3-1 and
exposing the task facing new Hoops manager Harry Redknapp.
With Redknapp was watching from the stands hours after replacing the fired Mark Hughes, Jamie Mackie put QPR (0-9-4) ahead in the 52nd minute. But Jonny Evans tied the score in the 64th, Darren Fletcher put United ahead four minutes later and Javier Hernandez scored in the 71st.United (10-3), which lost at Norwich last weekend, is two points ahead of defending champion Manchester City (8-4), which plays Sunday at Chelsea (7-2-3).
''We played for 10 or 15 minutes,'' United manager Alex Ferguson said. ''That was the sum total of our real performance from Manchester United. Of course it is frustrating we keep ending up in that position, but when they scored it definitely sparked us up.''
West Bromwich Albion (8-3-2), off to its best top division start since 1953, won 4-2 at Sunderland for its fourth straight victory. Zoltan Gera, Shane Long, Romelu Lukaku and Marc-Antoine Fortune scored for the Baggies, with Long stripping the ball from goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and scoring after Mignolet failed to hold onto Chris Brunt's soft two-hop through ball.
Wigan's Ali Al Habsi also had a howler in a 3-2 home win over Reading. Hal Robson-Kanu's shot deflected off Wigan's David Jones and bounced high in the air. Standing by the goal line, Al Habsi jumped and tipped the ball off the bottom of the crossbar. It rebounded off the goalkeeper and into the net, tying the score 2-all. Jordi Gomez scored his third goal of the game in the second minute of injury time, giving Wigan a 3-2 win.
Everton (5-3-5) is three points behind Chelsea after being held to a 1-1 draw by Norwich.
Steven Naismith's 12th-minute goal put the Toffees ahead, Sebastien Bassong beat American goalkeeper Tim Howard with a header in the 90th minute..
Charlie Adam scored his second goal of the season for 11th-place Stoke in a 1-0 victory over Fulham.
American goalkeeper Brad Guzan had his third shutout in 11 Premier League games since replacing Shay Given, helping Aston Villa tie visiting Arsenal 0-0. The Gunners (5-3-5) are sixth, one point behind Everton.
Some Arsenal fans at Villa Park chanted ''You don't know what you're doing'' at manager Arsene Wenger as Olivier Giroud was replaced with Francis Coquelin toward the end.
''I don't want to comment on that. I do my job and do my best for the club,'' Wenger said. ''I leave it to you to judge. I try to be as good as I can be. Is it hurtful? Look, I have managed for 30 years at the top level and I have to convince you I can manage the team?
''How many games have you managed? I promise you if you manage one I will sit in the stands and chant, 'You know what you are doing!'''
In the fourth tier, American Jon-Paul Pittman scored a tiebreaking goal in the 79th minute to give Oxford United a 2-1 win over Northampton Town.
